Silence of the (AKP) lambs

İhsan Yılmaz

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been constantly attacking the Hizmet movement for the last six months.

Government purges police officers who exposed massive corruption

The government has not stopped uprooting police departments as five more police officers from the İstanbul Police Department who were involved in uncovering massive government corruption have been permanently banned from the profession.

RTÜK issues fines to intimidate Samanyolu TV

The Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) has been harassing TV networks that it deems to be anti-government, and Samanyolu TV has become one of its major targets.

Gulen Movement Practice in the Netherlands

Martin van Bruinessen*

Cemal was 26 years old in 1989 when he arrived in the Netherlands in search of work. (1) He is a Kurd, and was born and grew up in Southeastern Turkey in a conservative and religious household.

"Hizmet Movement making tremendous contributions to Muslim culture"

Fikir Atlasi*, Episode 1 (Full text)

Jihad Turk

My name is Jihad Turk.**

And I am the president of Bayan Claremont, an Islamic graduate school at Claremont School of Theology.

I have a very positive impression of the Hizmet Movement and Fethullah Gulen.

Witch-hunts in Europe

Ali Yurttagül

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's defense, with his unique self-confidence, of his discourse, which has undertones of a witch-hunt against the Fethullah Gülen movement, has not surprised anybody, though many people have found it odd.

Government drags military into politics

Lale Kemal

Ironically, it is the same Turkish government that curbed the political power of the military, thanks to reforms in 2003 and 2004, that has now been taking measures to drag it back into politics.

GYV awards peace projects in İstanbul ceremony

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), which will make a donation of $50,000 to international peace projects developed to prevent conflict in the world and present solutions for them, held a ceremony in İstanbul on Friday in which 10 peace projects were given awards.

Erdoğan raising new army of political Islamists

Abdullah Bozkurt

Just like the recently passed intelligence legislation that Turkish spymaster Hakan Fidan lobbied hard for with Islamist politicians, including the Turkish president and prime minister, since the intel chief considered it a crucial tool to allow to him to restructure his agency to be on par with Iranian intelligence, according to insider accounts from the Turkish capital, the fast-tracked and head-spinning new initiatives in the national education policies of the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government in Turkey have increasingly started to reflect Iranian influence and mirror that experience.

Gezi's anniversary and Erdoğan's disproportionate politics

Mümtazer Türköne

Disproportionate force refers to the use of excessive force by security units; likewise, we can also speak of the disproportionate use of politics by powerful politicians against weaker political opponents.

The tragic end of the witch hunt

Ekrem Dumanlı

How could government yes-men do nothing when the prime minister of a country launches a witch hunt? Naturally, yes-men and low-caliber meddlers sprang up after the prime minister launched the witch hunt.

Ethiopian PM: It is an honor to work with TUSKON

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has said the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), one of Turkey's leading business confederations, has contributed positively to his country's development over the last 10 years and that it is an honor to work with the organization's membership.

Witch hunt in Europe

Emre Uslu

Political madness in Turkey is at its peak. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan does not even refrain from using the term “witch hunt” against the Gülen followers. When Erdoğan and his circle don't find any evidence, they allegedly try to produce evidence. Bureaucrats who don't want to be part of Erdoğan's witch hunt have sent letters to the media and prosecutors confessing what they are doing. Unfortunately, what they said in those letters has been confirmed by later developments.

Turkish Festival brings students from 27 countries to Ethiopia

The International Turkish Education Association's (TÜRKÇEDER) Language and Culture Festival which brought 95 students from 27 countries with the motto “Hearts United” was held in Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa over the weekend.

Whistleblower reveals wiretapping conspiracy to libel Hizmet

An anonymous whistleblower from the Prime Ministry sent an email to media outlets on Saturday claiming that a special team had been established at the Prime Ministry and that it had created a list of individuals whose phones were allegedly wiretapped by members of the so-called “parallel state” who had apparently infiltrated the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB), the agency responsible for carrying out legal wiretaps.

İstanbul summit focuses on women's perspective for post-2015 UN agenda

Nafis Sadik, a special advisor to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and professor Shirley Randell, one of Australia's 100 Inaugural Women of Influence in 2012, were among the participants of an international summit in İstanbul, which kicked off on Saturday with a program dedicated to discussions on a variety of topics, including women's empowerment and food security as part of the United Nations Development Agenda from the perspective of females.

Women gather for UN development agenda in İstanbul

Women, tasked studies on poverty, woman, child, education, environment and health mostly within the body of the UN came together for a program held by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) on Saturday.

Polemics over PM's ungrounded remarks about movie continue

Recent remarks by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claiming that Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen or his followers are shooting a movie about Erdoğan and his family have been denied by Gülen's lawyers, while the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has accused Erdoğan of shooting a movie himself to cover up corruption allegations facing his government.

GYV President Yeşil: Believers should endure Divine ordeals like Blessed Mary

Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) President Mustafa Yeşil delivered a speech at the international panel titled "The Blessed Mary’s Patience in the Holy Qur’an and the Holy Bible," held in İzmir. "Just as Blessed Mary did, believers should endure severe divine ordeals until God's help comes," Yeşil said.

‘Dictatorship based on Shariah'

Mümtazer Türköne

Some pro-government newspapers have been using the above phrase in their headlines lately, in an “it's come to this” sense.

455 water wells opened in Pakistan thanks to Kimse Yok Mu

As part of a campaign launched by well-known Turkish charity organization Kimse Yok Mu a total of 455 water wells were drilled in separate parts of Pakistan in two years.

Erdoğanists' double discourse

İhsan Yılmaz

Some members of the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government, Justice and Development Party (AKP) members and their staunch supporters in the media have increasingly been using double discourse and the discrepancy between what they say in English and Turkish is widening.

Envoy: US does not want to get involved in family fight

US Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone has said that the US does not want to get involved in Turkey's “family fight” between government officials and what the government calls a “parallel structure” nested within the state.

A legal guidebook for 'perception engineers'

Bülent Korucu

The campaign to manipulate public perceptions of Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement which is inspired by Gülen's ideas is stepping up pace once again. The “wag-the-dog” strategy is wielded once again in an effort to distract public attention.

Standing by the Education Rights of Schoolgirls

Alp Aslandoğan

Claiming that God directed the senseless kidnappings of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria is nothing but reprehensible. The assailants, Boko Haram, either have a dubious understanding of their faith or, more likely, are acting in their own selfish political interests, apparent from the reports of lavish lifestyle of their deceased founder, M. Yusuf. The religious ideology proclaimed by groups like Boko Haram or Al-Qaeda is "a political ideology fashioned by misinterpreting, misrepresenting and corrupting the religious text" as Dr. Rohan Gunaratna of International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore points out.

Two days in Kenya with Kimse Yok Mu

Ali Eyuboglu of Milliyet daily describes Kimse Yok Mu (KYM) Foundation’s efforts in Kenya, where even basic needs like water and food are scarce, as lifesaver. He shares his experiences in his column:

TUSKON execs in Ethiopia for trade talks

Top executives from the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), one of the country's leading business confederations, are in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to hold talks on mutual trade and investment relations with senior officials such as the Ethiopian prime minister and the ambassador to Ankara.

Turkish doctors leave country to volunteer at Uganda's Nile hospital

Doctors who decided to volunteer at the Nile Hospital, established by Turkish charity organization Kimse Yok Mu and set to open in Uganda in few days, have left Turkey on their way to their new posts.

African queen promises to give support to Turkish schools

Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland received a group of teachers from Turkish schools and businesspeople, affiliated with the Hizmet Movement, at her palace.

Columnist sees Gülen ‘conspiracy' in ruling against Israel

The government has refrained to date from a clear statement on how it plans to respond to a court ruling this week to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli generals for a bloody raid on a Turkish aid ship in 2010, which, inauspiciously, came as Turkey and Israel were reportedly finalizing a deal to restore their diplomatic relations ruined by the same raid.

Yeni Şafak report reveals conspiracy against Hizmet put into action

A news report published by the pro-government Yeni Şafak daily on Wednesday claiming that elements of the so-called “parallel state” in the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) had wiretapped the phones of 64 prominent individuals, has confirmed a recent e-mail sent by an anonymous whistleblower from the TİB to media outlets warning that there is a conspiracy to depict the Hizmet movement as having infiltrated the TİB.

The Pigeon, The Finger, and Hizmet’s ‘Inevitable Ambiguity’

Özcan Keleş

Like ‘beauty’, ambiguity can be in the eye of the beholder. While there are Hizmet-related reasons for some of Hizmet’s ambiguity, there are even more reasons to do with the outsider looking in (the beholder), rather than Hizmet itself (the beholden). Hizmet defies most of our pre-conceived notions, categories, and prejudices; we want to neatly pigeon-hole this pigeon and get angry when it does not fit – conjuring up all kinds of inappropriate images involving a man, a pigeon, and an inadequately sized pigeon-hole.

Gülen lawyer denies claims of shooting movie about Erdoğan family

Lawyer of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, Nurullah Albayrak, has denied claims that the scholar or his sympathizers are shooting a movie about the prime minister or his family.

MHP accuses PM of conducting psychological warfare to cover graft claims

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of carrying out “merciless, wild and treacherous” psychological warfare against the nation in order to cover up allegations of corruption and bribery his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has been facing.

A day of joy for five hundred Albanian orphans

In commemoration of Orphans Day in Albania, Kimse Yok Mu (KYM) Foundation brought smiles to the faces of a total of five hundred orphans and their families, who arrived in the capital Tiran from 36 cities across the country. In attendance of the event held in cooperation with the local Compassion Foundation were the Albanian PM Edi Rama, the parliament speaker Ilir Meta, the US, Kuwait and Qatar’s ambassadors to Tiran, and UNESCO officials along with prominent figures of the nation. One hundred orphans sang the song Xhomadini exclusively composed in honor of the country’s 100th anniversary. Also, the visually handicapped Diego Zelka’s performance got the audience emotional.

Graduation ceremony held in Turkish schools in Senegal

Turkish schools opened by entrepreneurs affiliated with Hizmet Movement held a graduation ceremony for the students on their 11th academic year in Dakar.

Lailat al-Miraj marked with prayers for Soma victims across Turkey

Along with the rest of the Islamic world, Turkey marked the Muslim festival of Lailat al-Miraj, known as Miraç Kandili in Turkish, which is the sacred day of the Prophet Muhammad's ascent to Heaven, on Sunday, while also praying for the souls of 301 miners who died in a mining accident in the western Turkish province of Manisa.

Turkish miner, Lonmin to explore for gold, silver in Ireland

Turkish gold mining company Koza Altın said on Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South African platinum miner Lonmin's Northern Ireland unit for gold and silver exploration activities.

Failure of political Islamists in Turkey

Abdullah Bozkurt

…I think we have reached a critical juncture in Turkish politics. The fractured state institutions, deepening of divisions and highly fragmented Turkish society under values of political Islamism imposed under Erdoğan's stewardship prevent Turkey from making vital progress on many issues that need urgent attention for the security and viability of the Turkish state. Erdoğan's political discourse, intolerant of dissent and highly incoherent because of corruption scandals that have pushed his government into a defensive posture, has dealt a significant blow to Turkey's national interests both at home and abroad.

Who is escalating tensions?

Mümtazer Türköne

…Speaking to journalists on his way from Cologne to Turkey, the prime minister yet again blamed the Gülen movement for everything. His remarks cannot be taken seriously even by those who pay constant attention to conspiracy theories. He argues that the movement is responsible for everything that goes wrong. This argument has not been proven over the last six months. He refers to this argument to justify a process of purging and reshuffling police officers and other high-level officials, which he has admitted is a “witch-hunt.” Whenever someone questions the government's performance or flaws in Turkey, the Gülen movement is put under the spotlight. And whenever there is a mass protest, the Gezi figures and Alevis are accused of being behind it.

GYV to deliver awards to peace projects

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), which will make a donation of $50,000 to international peace projects developed to prevent conflicts in the world and to present solutions, will hold a ceremony in İstanbul on Friday where ten peace projects will be given awards.

Gulen’s “Messenger of God: Muhammad” sold out at Buenos Aires book fair

The 40th annual book fair in the Argentinean capital Buenos Aires drew a remarkable interest from book enthusiasts. The local Turkish Cultural Centre participated in the event with its Turkey booth.

Obama's formerly close relations with Erdoğan a source of problems

US President Barack Obama, whose formerly close relationship with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has come under question by American senators, might be distancing himself from the Turkish prime minister following an increase in anti-Semitic and anti-American rhetoric in Turkey, analysts have said.

Kimse Yok Mu opens education complex in Kenya

Kimse Yok Mu, one of the largest charity organizations in Turkey, has opened an education complex in the town of Malindi in Kenya comprising a dormitory, school and public kitchen.

Gülen offers condolences for slain İstanbul resident shot at protest

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has offered condolences for Uğur Kurt, a 34-year-old who was waiting to attend a funeral outside a cemevi, an Alevi house of worship, was hit by a stray bullet allegedly from a police weapon and died in hospital on Thursday night.

Pak businessmen asked to attend Istanbul Expo

The Regional Director Pak Turk International Schools and Colleges Ali Yilmaz has called upon the business community of Pakistan to fully take part in two days long World Trade Bridge 2014. The World Trade Bridge 2014 is being organized by TUSKON at Expo Centre Istanbul from June 18, 2014. He emphasized this while holding meeting with the SVP Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Turab Ali Khoja here at HCCI Secretariat the other day. He informed that TUSKON is regularly organizing the World Trade Bridge two times in a year aimed to bridge the gap between the industrialist, traders and growers of Turkey and the world industrialists and traders.

Love is a Verb, Indeed!

I recently had a chance to see a documentary on Fethullah Gulen and the Hizmet Movement, namely “Love is a Verb”. It was a cool breeze from the heavens in this dog-eat-dog world full of ongoing wars and crimes. It once again showed me that there is still hope for humanity as there are still good people doing altruistic humanitarian work in the very dangerous regions of the world despite the continuous cruelty and monstrous slaughters surrounding and discouraging them on a daily basis.

Afghan minister: Afghanistan will continue to support Turkish schools

Afghan Deputy Education Minister Shafiq Samim has said Turkish schools in Afghanistan remained open even during the country's hardest times and that the schools will continue their work in the country in the future.

CHP asks gov't about file allegedly targeting TUSKON

Turkey's main opposition party Republican People's Party (CHP) submitted a parliamentary question to Interior Minister Efkan Ala on Friday asking if the government prepared and shared with some foreign countries a “secret file” which allegedly profiled members of a leading Turkish business confederation.

MHP asks gov't how many state officials reassigned after graft scandal

Opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Ankara deputy Özcan Yeniçeri submitted a parliamentary question to the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government asking how many state officials or civil servants have been reassigned or dismissed by each ministry since a major corruption scandal erupted that implicated top government officials.

Constitutional Court to discuss merits of controversial dershane law

The Constitutional Court will discuss the merits of a controversial law to close Turkey's dershanes, or private preparatory schools, that was taken to the top court by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) for annulment in April.

Erdoğan's limitations

İhsan Yılmaz

As can be understood by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu's statements during a press conference, the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government's understanding of human rights is extremely limited in scope.

Columnist fired from pro-gov’t daily after critical comment over Soma

The pro-government Vatan daily has fired a columnist who had submitted a critical column, which faced censorship and was not published, over a disaster that killed 301 miners in the mining town of Soma.

TUSKON encourages mutual Russian-Turkish investment

Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) Chairman Rıza Nur Meral voiced his support for mutual Turkish-Russian investment, while speaking at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg on Friday.

Filipino businessman grateful for Turkish schools

Filipino Chairman of Union of Chambers and Exchange Commodities Abdulgani Macatoman praised the Turkish schools operating in his country for their achievements. “My both children are studying at the Turkish schools. These schools have been among the top-rated all the time. We have a total of 926 high schools in the capital Manila and the Turkish schools top the list. I would like to thank Turkish people for establishing these schools.”