Hizmet movement's role

Tuğba Aydın

Currently there is a lot of baseless talk on social media and among some media circles about an alleged and growing tension between the Hizmet movement -- inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen -- and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government.

Releasing a statement on Tuesday, the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) said that although those who bring up controversial allegations about the Hizmet movement need to show evidence to prove their claims, the foundation felt an obligation to respond to the allegations as a sign of respect for the public's right to be informed. Columnists discussed the GYV's explanation and commented on the Hizmet movement.

Zaman columnist Mehmet Kamış writes that there has been unlawful treatment of people who support the Hizmet movement, such as the dismissal of those people from public institutions. Kamış says that when most people voted for the AK Party in the June 12, 2011 general elections, they hoped to end an important problem in Turkey, that of “otherizing” members of the Hizmet movement. Also, apart from the people who support the Hizmet movement, Alevi, leftist and Kurdish people were exposed to exclusions, Kamış says. Kamış finds the responses that the GYV made to be totally correct and strongly denies the allegations against the Hizmet movement.

Star's Sibel Eraslan thinks polemics on the AK Party and Hizmet Movement are a temporary situation that will end after some time. Eraslan says Turkey has come a long way in many fields after turbulent years and adds that Turkey is an indivisible whole despite some conflicts that take place in the country from time to time.

Cüneyt Özdemir from Radikal says the Hizmet movement has turned into a bid power with its successful works not only in Turkey, but also in 150 countries around the world. According to Özdemir, some people from the AK Party are disturbed by the success of the Hizmet movement -- knowledge he gathered from the writing of columnists who are supporters of the AK Party. Özdemir also writes that he received frank answers from some of the officials of the GYV when he asked a great deal of questions during his visit with a group of journalists to Pennsylvania, where Gülen lives.

Published on Today's Zaman, 14 August 2013, Wednesday

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The Journalists and Writers Foundation’s (JWF) response to allegations against Hizmet Movement