Gulen Endorses Reform Package, Calls for 'Yes' Vote

(Video Duration: 1 min. 32 secs.)

Among other things, the reform package includes changes to the structure of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors. The package also repeals Turkish Constitution’s Article 15 which gives immunity to the generals responsible for the September 12, 1980 coup.

Fethullah Gulen

In his lately weekly speech, Fethullah Gulen explained why he believed people should vote ‘yes’ on the election day. He said the package should not be viewed politically but from what it would bring to the nation: “There are crucial changes in that package for the future of our nation. The package should be supported from this perspective and ‘yes’ votes should be cast with such an intention,” Gulen said.

Underlining everyone, including Turkish citizens living abroad, should live positively in the referendum, Gulen said: “I wish we had a chance to raise the dead from their graves and urge them to cast ‘yes’ votes in the referendum,” highlighting the importance of voting in the favor of the changes.

Gulen also said he did not approve of presenting packages if it were merely a means to settle accounts with coup perpetrators: “It is wrong to think that the nation will take revenge on the coup perpetrators thanks to these changes, because believers are not after revenge,” he said.

Gulen is a Turkish Islamic scholar well known for his teachings promoting mutual understanding and tolerance between cultures.