Has the Gülen movement become political?

Hüseyin Gülerce

The honorable Fethullah Gülen’s desire that a “yes” vote be cast during the Sept. 12 referendum is still being criticized by certain people. Can this movement, which is mentioned using Gülen’s name but Gülen himself insists on calling “the movement of volunteers,” become political?

There are certain people who even say, “This movement has expanded and in the end it’s bound to become political -- one day Fethullah Gülen will either become the prime minister or the president.”

Those who read Gülen’s books, those who listen to his lectures or those who are in this movement, if they happen to have a conscience and a sense of justice, will be able to say that this movement will never become political.

Faith and reason

Randy David

Manila, Philippines - It is fascinating to read Pope Benedict XVI’s speech the other day before members of the British parliament. The Pope spoke on “the proper place of religious belief within the political process.” Having just visited Ephesus and Urfa, two of the most important religious sites in Turkey, I could not have been more primed to appreciate the significance of this message.

The Pope sounded the alarm about what he called the growing “marginalization” of religion in public life. There are those, he said, who want to “silence” the voice of religion altogether. Turkey’s Muslims could not have agreed with him more. Although the recent referendum on constitutional amendments in this strictly secular society dealt mainly with democracy and the concomitant restoration of civilian authority, the subtext of the debate within Turkish society is precisely what Benedict XVI articulated in his Westminster speech.

He goes straight into the heart of the issue: “What are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved?”