Dutch minister gives Turkish deputy a lesson on freedoms

Basri Doğan, Adem Kotan

Fethullah Gulen

Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner has opposed critical remarks by Socialist Party (SP) deputy Saadet Karabulut about the Gülen movement, inspired by internationally respected Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen, and said the movement is very successful in integrating into Dutch society.

Putting emphasis on freedom of religion and human rights, Donner said the Gülen movement does not pose any threat to the Dutch state, as the deputy argues, but stands as the most successful group among Turks living in the Netherlands with regards to integration.

Gülen movement won’t form alliance with PKK

Aziz Üstel

Why can’t the Gülen movement make an alliance with the PKK? Because the esteemed Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic religious scholar, is someone who is disgusted by every form of violence and opposes the use of violence.

The Gülen movement does not put the Kurdish citizens of Turkey in the same basket as the PKK. The movement is totally against the establishment of an autonomous region in the country’s Southeast. The co-chairman of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Selahattin Demirtaş, clearly said an alliance with the Gülen movement is out of the question. The reason is the “incompatibility” of the two movements. By the way, there is something about which Demirtaş is mistaken, his argument that the Gülen-PKK alliance issue was brought up by Zaman columnist Hüseyin Gülerce. It was not Gülerce, but Öcalan’s lawyers who brought up this claim.

Published on Today's Zaman, 16 December 2010, Thursday /
(translated from the original piece that appeared on Star Newspaper, 15 December 2010)