November 28, 2013

Should I not respond to those who want to strangle me?

Hüseyin Gülerce

The move to close down prep schools is getting complicated. Things are going out of hand, and the discussions over this serious education issue are becoming less serious and more irrelevant. A Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy who is also a member of the education commission made a horrible remark comparing the prep schools to the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK); this should be taken as a serious warning showing that things could get worse. I am feeling really heart weary and upset by the general attitude of Education Minister Nabi Avcı during the meetings with stakeholders.

Gov't-endorsed MGK plot against Gülen exposed by daily

A secret national security document recently discovered by a Turkish daily has revealed that Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government signed on to a planned crackdown on the Hizmet (Gülen) movement.

Gülen urges Hizmet members to defend prep schools in civilized way

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has urged followers of the Hizmet movement to insist on the “right and logical” and defend prep schools, which the Turkish government has said it will shut down despite tremendous public outrage.

‘Gülen wants to be an altruistic servant of others’

Professor Ori Z. Soltes, author of ‘Embracing the World: Fethullah Gülen’s Thought and Its Relationship to Jalaluddin Rumi and Others,’ explains how Gülen’s perception of Sufism is grounded particularly in the work of thinkers such as Jalaluddin Rumi, Ibn Arabi and Said Nursi, but is also grounded in the idea of selflessness.

Islamic scholar Gülen calls for ‘reasonability’ in test prep school row

Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has called on the government to act “reasonably” in its plan to close test prep schools, adding that they were the ones receiving a “slap,” in a veiled reference to a statement from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The recent fight between Kemalo-Islamism and Civil Islam

İhsan Yılmaz

As I have written here before, Islamists imagine Islam as a complete and ready-to-use divine system, with concrete political, cultural, legal and economic blueprints.

Turkey’s press bodies slam government for ‘discrimination’

Both of Turkey’s most authoritative press bodies have condemned the government and Education Ministry over their “biased accreditation practice,” which was the basis used for invitations issued to a recent press conference on the controversial prep schools issue.