The Gulen Movement emerged in late 1960s’ Turkey which had been struggling with social, economic and political problems that any nation state would face within its former years. Modern Turkey was established in 1923 by Kemal Ataturk and his colleagues on what was remained from the Ottoman Empire which disintegrated during the WWI. Contrary to [...]
Helen Rose Ebaugh Establishing the First Educational Projects Mr. Gülen, together with administrators of the Kestanepazari institution and with the support of local businessmen organized summer camps for middle and high school students, as well as university students. These camps taught secular education courses in areas such as history and biology but also provided religious [...]
James Harrington Political trials have run throughout the course of human history. Often they have intertwined themselves with religious issues, especially when the powers of “church and state” have aligned in mutual interest. In Western tradition and culture, the trials of Socrates, Jesus, Galileo, the Inquisition, the Salem “witches,” and John Scopes stand out in [...]
Dr. Alp Aslandogan I would like to begin by thanking the Center for Strategic and International Studies for hosting this presentation and in particular Dr. Aliriza for his invitation and organizing this gathering. I also have a couple of disclaimers: First, I will not be speaking on behalf of any institution. The views presented here [...]
Dr. Greg Barton* Gülen is generally seen to draw directly on the intellectual heritage of the influential and greatly loved Sufi scholar and writer Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. And indeed, an examination of Gülen’s writing reveals it to be substantially built upon the foundation laid by Nursi, who in turn drew upon the great Anatolian Sufi [...]
Members of the Hizmet community hope to change society through a new type of education that draws from and integrates disparate strands of previous pedagogic systems. Gülen’s starting point was his recognition of the need for a new kind of school, a system of education that would draw what was best from the existing alternatives [...]
Many people see the need for interreligious and intercultural dialogue but are not sure where to begin. I have often been asked, “How do you go about starting up dialogue with others?” Especially because I am a Christian who has lived and shared life with Muslims for many years, they ask, “How do you go [...]
In today’s Turkey Gülen movement represents an Islam, which is liberal and tolerant, which is in favor of the country’s EU bid and democratizing reforms. And this means that it is a “modern” movement. Yet this modernity has not been achieved by the authoritarian secularist policies of the state. It has been achieved thanks to [...]
Although Gülen Hizmet is becoming increasingly well-known outside Turkey for its schools and passion for education these schools are only one part of the Hizmet’s activism. From its earliest days the Gülen movement has been involved with writing and publishing. The movement’s first magazine, Sizinti, launched in the early 1980s, is a popular publication directed [...]
The world is changing at an unprecedented rate. Established religions are struggling to come to terms with societies that are increasingly secular and skeptical about the certainties of the past. They are struggling to come to terms with the new modes and speeds of communication and the moods and ideas that can now be spread [...]
From Hizmet News