Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who claimed to have visited Fethullah Gülen in 2013 with confirmation from President Gül, to convince the Islamic preacher return to Turkey, has been denounced separately by both circles.
“There is something wrong in the part concerning me. I only learned about it [the visit] afterwards,” noted former Turkish President Gül.
This latest controversy is part of a government campaign since late 2013 against the Gülen Movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, consisting of followers and sympathizers of the Islamic preacher. While the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has tried to frame a key corruption case of the period as a coup plot conducted by the movement, critics have slammed the government for using the movement as a scapegoat. Critics point out that Davutoğlu had once visited the preacher who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania in the US, before the corruption case went public.
“I invited him [Gülen] to return but he refused, saying that it was not time yet. I now understand that he was waiting until December to come back. He was going to return like [Iran's former Supreme Leader Ruhollah] Khomeini,” noted the Turkish Prime Minister.
The lawyers of Gülen denied that there had been any talk over his return. “A conversation in which Gülen rejected Davutoğlu's invitation to Turkey, saying that it was not time yet, has never taken place. This is not a true statement,” tweeted the lawyers on May 1.
Published on BGNNews, 02 May 2015, Saturday
Related
Latest news, academic excerpts, commentary, book reviews and interviews on Fethullah Gulen and the Hizmet Movement (aka The Gulen Movement).
Search This Blog
Overview
Content from 164 countries/states
Categories
New Audio Podcast
Some Highlights
- Top Three Reasons Why Turkey’s President Erdogan is Obsessed with Gulen
- Turkish witch-hunt against the Gulen movement lacks one thing: Evidence
- Bill Clinton on Fethullah Gulen's contribution to the world
- Erdoğan’s war against Hizmet: Step by step
- Is Gulen Movement a religious order?
- Is the Gülen Movement a civil society initiative?
- Popular Islam – Hizmet-Gülen Movement and Fethullah Gülen
- Why do they lie about Fethullah Gülen?
- The Responsibility of the Hizmet movement
- Gülen movement is a chance for humanity, American professor says
- Gulen Movement: An attempt to represent Islam and Muslims positively
- Muslims Must Combat the Extremist Cancer
- The Place of the Gulen Movement in the intellectual history of Islam
- A Universal Islamic Phenomenon in Turkish Religious Practice: the Gülen Case
Suggested Readings
Disclaimer: Copyrights and ideas in the articles belong to their respective owners. Hizmet Movement (Gulen Movement) Blog may not be held liable from the content of articles nor their potential misuse by third parties. Articles shared are not necessarily endorsed. Links and images used in the blog posts may differ from those at their original source. Translated articles are solely intended for the convenience of the readers, and may include minor errors.