Slander Fethullah Gulen with impunity

Fethullah Gulen for the last 30 years of his life has been under an increasing attack by the Elirtist Turkish establishment and its civilian cohorts on the grounds that he has a secret agenda evidence of which is the foundation of schools throughout the world. Only a pathetic paranoid could blame a person for opening schools and educating people with such a ridiculous pretext. This is what the Turkish establishment has succeeded. I always thought that such a matchless sick mentality was only peculiar to Turkey. Alas! To my greatest disappointment I have just noticed that it could be found in the world’s most advanced, best educated, most sophisticated countries like USA.

Some time ago, a rabid example of this paranoia was published in Middle East Quarterly by a lady called Rachel Sharon-Krespin who did a marvelous job of fabrication and disinformation. I will try to analyze such a masterpiece of Disinformation.

Let’s start!

 

1: As Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) begins its seventh year in leadership, Turkey is no longer the secular and democratic country that it was when the party took over. The AKP has conquered the bureaucracy and changed Turkey's fundamental identity.

 

What is the evidence of this argument? What makes a country secular and democratic?

Free elections and all other basic freedoms, right? Could she give us any example of the lack of any one of these freedoms? I don’t think so. Turkey in 2010 is a much more democratic and much safer country where political violence and political assassinations no longer take place. Let’s remember Turkey’s political and internal security conditions of Turkey from 1991 to 2002 when AKP came to power.

PKK (Kurdish Stalinist Secessionist) terrorism was rampant claiming thousand of lives. It is 99 percent over now.

Political assassinations had infested country. Many Turkish intellectuals were murdered and none of the assassins was caught. Neither state nor people ever knew who killed them.

Turkish academicians like Bahriye Ucok, Muammer Aydin, Mehmet Ali Kislali or journalist Ugur Mumcu who were all highly prestigious secularist intellectuals and many others were assassinated. Perpetrators were never found. Between 2003 and 2010, there were only two terrorist attacks on this scale. One of them took place in early 2003 when AKP government had just been established. The assassin was never found. A much more daring assassination took place in May 2006 and one of the top ranking judges of Turkish council of State was murdered and four other were seriously wounded. The attacker was successfully caught before he left the building. For some weeks we believed that this was an attack by a Islamist fundamentalist but it became clear that the assassin had nothing to do with the religion and his mentors and close companions were all former army officers who were known as die-hard secularists. They provided him necessary gun and vital information. The murder of such a high ranking Judge was aimed at provoking violence in the streets and in the ensuing anarchy forcing the government to resign. Their plans failed and they were arrested. The trial is still continuing.

As for secularism, we do not know what erosion took place in this field? Are the women forced to veil? Is the constitution that guaranteed secularism changed? Are those who had secular life style were purged arrested interrogated? Are alcoholic beverages forbidden? Is Ataturk’s image, the founder of Republic and the initiator of secularism defiled? What has happened in Turkey for God’s sake that she claims Turkey is no longer secular?

 

 

2. Prior to the AKP's rise, Ankara oriented itself toward the United States and Europe. Today, despite the rhetoric of European Union accession, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has turned Turkey away from Europe and toward Russia and Iran and reoriented Turkish policy in the Middle East away from sympathy toward Israel and much more toward friendship with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria.

This argument is more than groundless. It is spineless. AKP is the government that aims and achieves at opening its borders to the outer world by removing visa requirements. This means that more and more foreigners will be able to enter Turkey freely. Can you think that such a country will try to ally with autocratic countries Russia and Iran? AKP on the contrary is moving strongly against those who attempt to stage a coup d’état and bring Turkey into the orbit of Russia. Only a drunkard could claim that Turkey is leaving Western Camp.

“Despite the rhetoric of EU accession” is remarkable. The author is unable to make up her kind about AKP. Has AKP government, unlike previous westernist(!) Turkish governments, made the most serious democratic reforms so far in order to enter EU? YES!

Has AKP sacrificed Northern Cyprus for this purpose?  YES!

What does author says? “Despite the rhetoric of EU accession” Bravo! What a genius!

“Anti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic sentiments have increased.”

For example? She definitely knows that AKP is under an increasing attack by the secularist wings that AKP, due to its reforms designed for EU, allows Christian missionary activities in Turkey. The most famous incidence was a speech by Rahsan Ecevit, wife of late Bulent Ecevit who is known for his secularism. She insisted that AKP reforms are undermining Turkey because of missionary activities.

Anti American? Really? She again knows very well that AKP government did its best to pass a resolution from the parliament that would allow USA during the second Iraq war to open a second front from Southern Turkey (Northern Iraq). Guess who blocked this resolution in the parliament? The Opposition party in the parliament at the time, RPP, Sharon’s WESTERNIST and SECULARIST party in Turkey. I have just analyzed introduction paragraph of Sharon’s essay so far.

Seemingly, two things are possible.

a- Sharon is as ignorant as darkness about Turkey. But as we see she relied on so many Turkish sources. Supposedly she is aware of what is going on in Turkey.

b- Sharon is trying to manipulate facts and misinform Americans.

In both cases, it is shameful thing on the part of Sharon.

“Behind Turkey's transformation has been not only the impressive AKP political machine but also a shadowy Islamist sect led by the mysterious hocaefendi (master lord) Fethullah Gülen; the sect often bills itself as a proponent of tolerance and dialogue but works toward purposes quite the opposite. Today, Gülen and his backers (Fethullahcılar, Fethullahists) not only seek to influence government but also to become the government.”

Here is the funniest part of such a gross ignorance.

1- Mysterious Hocaefendi (Masterlord)? Why mysterious? His life, his works and his opinions are all known too well. Then why mysterious? Because our dear ignorant author wants to say so. On the other hand hocaefendi does not mean masterlord. It means chief teacher. Masterlord? Great! What a manipulation!

2- “The sect often bills itself as a proponent of tolerance and dialogue but works toward purposes quite the opposite.” What is your evidence? What did they do that you think so? I am really curious. We know that these people so far have always opened schools universities and made publications. They are all public. Any individual American can read those publications and visit those schools. So please let us know what your evidence is. What makes you so smart? So far I have seen nothing smart in your article. A mere nonsense!

She also says these people also want to become government? How? What is the name of their party? What do they promise to the masses as politicians? Mayne I can vote for them. Maybe even Sharon would want to vote for them. Who knows!

“Since his voluntary exile, Gülen has resided on a large, rural estate in eastern Pennsylvania, together with about 100 followers, who guard him and tend to his needs. It is from his U.S. base that Gülen has built his fame and his transnational empire.”

100 bodyguards? She must be talking about a medieval fortress and medieval lord. What a strong imagination. And before 1999, the movement had already opened several hundred schools and a few universities. She must have known that. Ignorance is a nice thing to wash your hands away.

“Today, Turkey has over 85,000 active mosques, one for every 350 citizens—compared to one hospital for every 60,000 citizens—the highest number per capita in the world and, with 90,000 imams, more imams than doctors or teachers.”

It is a good thing to have so many mosques and so many prayer leaders to avoid radicalization of masses. It is quiet natural that there would be more imams than doctors. An imam is the result of high school education while to be doctor you have to attend a university and study some six years at least.

“It has thousands of madrasa-like Imam-Hatip schools and about four thousand more official state-run Qur'an courses, not counting the unofficial Qur'an schools, which may expand the total number tenfold.”

1- Imam hatip schools are not madrasa like. They are just normal schools.  And they are needed to enlighten people about the true aspects of Islam. Turkey is the only country in the world which has nothing to do with Islamic radicalism. I guess our author hates this. Unofficial Qur’an Schools?  There are not any. Once found they closed and members of these so called unofficial Quranic schools are punished. She must have known that. Also, is it a bad thing to learn religion? While an American is freely able to attend religious schools why such a right is denied for Turkish people in Turkey? She is simple trying to portray Turkey as a marginal Islamic country. But she must give us a name of a Turkish radical Islamist organization that organized terrorist activities anywhere in the world.