One blow after another at anti-Hizmet docu’s premier

The Pennsylvania screening of the documentary “The Gulen,” targeting the Hizmet Movement and the Honorable Fethullah Gulen, was met with failure.

At the follow-up session, the panelist Mary Addi said the movie came a disappointment to her and then left the hall. The screening received low interest from American people and was attended by a small -predominantly Turkish- audience.

On invitation from the producers, Mary Addi noted she had a 6-hour drive but felt disappointed after seeing it. “I’m an American. Needless to say, I’m proud to be an American. But I felt like I was insulted during as it was running.”

The panelist received applause from the audience as she was leaving the hall after giving her comments. The following translation made her harsh criticism clear to the audience and changed the mood. Another panelist Gulseven Yaser revealed she made it to the screening although she is on Interpol’s red notice list. In her speech, Yaser repeated her allegations, which were legally refuted previously.

Producers scapegoated the Hizmet for the subtitle failure

Despite the complimentary tickets mailed to every home in the neighborhood, the locals did not show up for the screening. The English subtitle of the originally Turkish movie did not run smoothly, as it was incompatible with the theater’s technology. The officials put the blame on the Hizmet Movement, which was met with laughter from the journalists in the audience. The American audience, who were very few anyway, left the hall before long.

Director Koc: I’m a subjective one

In answer to the question “What makes you link the black Americans praying outside the Congress with the Hizmet Movement,” the director Serkan Koc said, “Those scenes surely have nothing physical to do with the Hizmet Movement.”Koc said he included them because he compared the Hizmet to those Muslims as a movement and philosophy. Koc further said he is a subjective director when asked why the movie features no remark from a Hizmet member.

Anti-Islamic author Paul Williams was among the audience

Paul Williams, who is often cited by the pro-government Turkish media, was also among the audience. Besides his anti-Islamic views, Williams is also known for his radical rightist position in the US politics.

He was the administrator of an anti-Islamic website until recently. The author argues “an educated Muslim is more dangerous than al-Qaeda.” His blasphemous remarks calling the Palestinian people “pedophile” had sparked reactions. In one of his articles in 2010, Williams would claim the then-president Abdullah Gul and then-PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan were disciples of Fethullah Gulen.

Published [in Turkish] on Samanyolu Haber, 8 February 2015, Sunday