Fethullah Gulen speaks about PKK

(Video Duration: 2 min 19 secs)

Turkish scholar Fethullah Gulen broke a self-imposed 16-year broadcast silence and spoke to BBC about his home country Turkiye.

One of the key issues facing the country is the Kurdish issue, and he says the Hizmet movement supports the peace process.

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VOA covers Turkish scholar Fethullah Gulen

(Video Duration: 1 min 35 secs)

While critics characterize the Gulen movement as a cult of personality, admirers prefer the term Hizmet movement, after the Turkish word for ‘service.’ And Aslandogan compared Fethullah Gulen to U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

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BBC interviews Fethullah Gulen

(Video Duration: 8 min 15 secs)

Speaking to the BBC's Newshour, Fethullah Gulen said: "It is not possible for these judges and prosecutors to receive orders from me."

Fethullah Gulen has been called Turkey's second most powerful man. He is also a recluse, who lives in self-imposed exile in the US.

An apparent power struggle between his followers and those around the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has reached a new pitch of intensity and loathing.
Since arriving in the US in the late 1990s, Mr Gulen, 74, has not given a single broadcast interview. What rare communication there has been with the media has almost exclusively been conducted via email.

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BBC: Turkish Twitter war over education

(Video Duration: 2 mins)

Plans to abolish "prep schools" in Turkey have sparked a huge feud between two of the country's most powerful forces on the micro-blogging website Twitter.

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Zeki Saritoprak speaks on Gulen Movement at Chautauqua Institution

(Video Duration: 10 mins 7 secs)

Zeki Saritoprak is the Nursi Chair in Islamic Studies at John Carroll University and delivered an interfaith lecture on Gulen and the his Hizmet movement. Saritoprak also gave a brief outline of Turkish history, from the start of the Ottoman Empire to the founding of the Republic of Turkey.

“Muslims have to establish … not religious schools, but just regular, secular high schools,” Saritoprak said, “because [Gülen believes] mathematics is talking about God, physics is talking about God, chemistry is talking about God.”

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Gulen Movement: A shared bridge between the US and Islam - Peter J. Mehl

(Video Duration: 13 mins. 18 secs.)

Life is a shared bridge of “passing over” and “coming back.” It is a passing over to other cultures and faiths, not to disown one’s own heritage, but to come back to incorporate new wisdoms and insight into one’s own worldview. The Gülen Movement is one such bridge."

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Fethullah Gulen Calls for Unity and Friendship

(Video Duration: 1 min. 9 secs.)

Fethullah Gulen has always been an ardent advocate of peace no matter what issue, country or region is in question. Specifically, on the Kurdish issue, which is constantly high on agenda in Turkey, Gulen explicitly repeats his call for dialogue and education in resolution of the problems. According to Gulen, friendly relations between the people of the region will help restore past unity and peace the region enjoyed, which resonates with the opinion leaders and businessmen involved in the resolution of the problems.

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Scholars Discuss Muslim Unity

(Video Duration: 2 mins. 36 secs.)

Islamic scholars from 80 countries convened at an international event titled in Istanbul, Turkiye.

The event is titled "Ijma as a Common Roadmap and Collective Awareness".

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Fethullah Gulen's legal journey & Turkey's democratization progress

(Video Duration: 56 mins. 59 sec.)

James C. Harrington, Ph.D.

Fethullah Gulen's legal journey and Turkey's democratization progress is explained in this public lecture by Dr. James Harrington:

Dr. James Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project and Adjunct Professor at the School of Law in the University of Texas talks about how the political trial of Fethullah Gulen, a moderate Turkish religious leader, helped to greatly expand civil liberties and strengthen democracy in Turkey.

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Fethulah Gulen Trial explained in Frankfurt Book Fair

(Video Duration: 58 mins. 11 secs.)

James C. Harrington, Ph.D.

Harrington, who was a guest at the Frankfurt Book Fair to his book "(In)dependent judiciary - The trial of Fethullah Gulen during democratization of Turkey" sign gives an interesting insight into the hitherto little explored judicial proceedings against Fethullah Gulen.

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Abant Platform discussed Democratization in Turkey

(Video Duration: 1 min. 19 secs.)

Members of the Abant Platform met for a two-day meeting in the mid north province of Bolu in Turkey. Supported by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF), a civic organization championing the principles of diversity, multiculturalism and dialogue, the meeting brought together scholars, writers, intellectuals and community leaders, who brainstormed on the subject of “Democratization: Political Parties from 12 September to the European Union.”

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Abant Platform's contributions to societal wellbeing

Video Duration: (9 mins. 49 secs.)

The Abant Platform was established on the premise that dogmatic biases dominant for a long time in Turkish political life are foremost permanent obstacles hindering democratic development. If the irrevocable basic principle of democracy is “differences being in dialogue,” then the strengthening of democracy with the realization of dialogue is the reality that defines the Abant Platform.

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CBS 60 minutes: Fethullah Gulen promotes democracy

(Video Duration: 2 mins. 15 secs.)

Fethullah Gulen discussed in 60 Minutes

CBS 60 minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl (hereafter LS) interviews Abdulhamit Bilici (hereafter AB), the director of the Cihan News Agency in Istanbul:

AB: "Fethullah Gulen is one of our columnists, he explains his point of view, especially about how to interpret Islam in modern age."

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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.

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Three Religions Break Bread in Turkey

(Video Duration: 1 min. 16 secs.)

2009’s theme of the Foundation of the Journalists and Writers was Generations of This Land. The guests included indigenous peoples. Fethullah Gulen, the Honorary President of the Foundation offered his tender words of praise and affection in his absence as he could not attend the dinner:

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Fethullah Gulen: No Return from Democracy

(Video Duration: 36 secs.)

Fethullah Gulen

Fethullah Gulen speaks at the commencement reception of Journalists and Writers Foundation:

As with the entire world, people in Turkey are also heading towards democracy. To date, majority of the people in Turkey have lived only with the ten percent of democracy; they were able to get only one tenth of it, and have survived up to this date with that.

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An analysis of the Gulen Movement

(Video Duration: 24 mins. 6 secs.)

This is one of the first academic books about Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish scholar and preacher, and the civic movement he inspired in Turkey and ultimately throughout the world. The movement is rooted in moderate Islam and is committed to educating youth, fostering interfaith and intercultural dialog, assisting the needy in society and contributing to global peace. Based on interview data and visits to Gülen-inspired institutions, the book describes the movement from a sociological perspective, especially through the lens of social movement theory. It is the first book, grounded in empirical methodology, to describe the movement to a Western audience. It will be of special interest to social scientists interested in religious movements, religious scholars seeking information on Islamic movements and the general public eager to discover a moderate Islam that promotes humanitarian projects.

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Fethullah Gulen's Legal Journey: A Political Trial

(Video Duration: 7 mins. 59 secs.)

James C. Harrington, Ph.D.

The Hizmet Movement in the Turkish Context was the topic of the third panel at the "International Conference on Gulen Movement: Paradigms, Projects, Aspirations" held at the International House of University of Chicago in 2010.

In the panel, Dr. James C. Harrington of the Texas Civil Rights Institute from University of Texas presented his paper titled Strengthening Religious Freedom, Free Speech, and Democracy in Turkey: The Political Trial of Fethullah Gülen. Below are some excerpts from Dr. Harrington's presentation:

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Fethullah Gulen acquitted

(Video Duration: 1 min.)

Fethullah Gulen

The Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals has rejected the Chief Prosecutor's Office's objection to the acquittal of scholar Fethullah Gulen, which was upheld by the appeals court in early March. Gulen had been charged with "establishing an illegal organization". The objection was soundly defeated by a 16 to 7 vote.

Fethullah Gulen's acquittal has been officially registered a third time following the objection of the Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçinkaya.

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