March 22, 2014

Gülen offers more explanations of his views on continuing slander

Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has inspired a worldwide network active in education, charity and outreach called the Hizmet movement, has responded to manifestly ill-intentioned comments about an interview he gave to Today's Zaman, saying that he cannot remain silent in the face of injustice.

Gülen interview received high praise from intellectuals, NGOs, politicians

The in-depth interview with Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has inspired the popular civic and social movement called Hizmet, and was published this week in a five-part series by both Zaman and Today's Zaman was received well by people from all walks of life including intellectuals, academics, politicians and human rights activists.

Kyrgyz Culture Minister: Turkish schools are of golden value to us

Kyrgyzstan’s Minister of Culture and Tourism Sultan Rayev attended the Turkish Language Olympics’ eliminations in his country. Rayev in his statements said, “These schools are of golden value to us. In fact, even more than that as gold mines will be exhausted sooner or later but knowledge won’t.”

AK Party doesn't want votes from the Gülen movement

Hüseyin Gülerce

I am of the impression that the majority of the people who compose the Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet or service movement, have, since the time the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was formed, supported this party in every election.

Hate speech in Netherlands and Turkey

Joost Lagendijk

A few days after the local elections in the Netherlands that were held last Wednesday, the debate is not dominated by the countrywide landslide victory of the progressive liberals or the historic defeat of the Social Democrats in Amsterdam and other big cities. The talk of the town are the racist chants against Moroccans by Geert Wilders, the populist leader of the extreme-right Freedom Party. Over the years, Wilders has gained himself a reputation as a committed Islamophobe who takes pleasure in trying to find out how far he can go in stretching the limits of free speech. According to many politicians and commentators, he crossed the line on election night when he spoke to a crowd of supporters at The Hague and asked them, "Do you want more or fewer Moroccans in this city?" They chanted "Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!" Wilders smiled and responded "I will take care of that."

Erdoğan vows to ban this year's Turkish Olympiads

A day after he moved to ban popular social media network Twitter, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said his government will not grant the organizers of the Turkish Olympiads permission to use any stadium or sports hall this year.