April 13, 2011

Doğan: Fethullah Gülen stood against anti-cemevi campaigns

Fatih Vural

In thankful remarks to well-respected Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, Cem Foundation President İzzettin Doğan has said that Gülen supported the construction of cemevis (Alevi houses of worship) when signature campaigns were launched against the cemevis in some regions of Turkey.

Doğan was speaking during a panel discussion on Saturday at İstanbul’s Aydın University. Stating that nearly 2,000 cemevis have been built in Turkey in the past 50 years, he said that signature campaigns were launched to prevent their construction in the early 2000s. Noting that there were places where more than 50,000 signatures were collected, he said an interview with Gülen featured in an American daily played a positive role in slowing down these campaigns. In the interview, Gülen said cemevis should be built next to mosques and that failing to build cemevis for Alevis was unjust. Doğan said he witnessed that “such negative moves decreased following the interview.”