Gülen movement
| Gülen movement | |
|---|---|
| Gülen Hareketi | |
| Also known as |
|
| Country | United States and Turkey |
| Active region(s) | Following amongst Central Asia and Europe |
| Ideology |
Gülenism |
| Status |
|
| Size | 200,000 to 4 million |
Gülenism
The Gülen movement is an Islamic transnational religious and social movement led by Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen, who has lived in the United States since 1999. The movement has no official name but it is usually referred to as Hizmet ("the Service") by its followers and as Cemaat ("the Community/Assembly") by the broader public in Turkey. Its largest body is the Alliance for Shared Values. The movement has attracted supporters and critics in Turkey, Central Asia, and other parts of the world. It is active in education with private schools and universities in over 180 countries as well as many American charter schools operated by followers. The movement denies that the charter schools have a direct affiliation. It has initiated forums for interfaith dialogue. It has substantial investments in media, finance, and for-profit health clinics. Despite its teachings that are considered conservative even in Turkey, some have praised the movement as a pacifist, modern-oriented version of Islam, and as an alternative to more extreme schools of Islam such as Salafism. But it has also been accused of having "global, apocalyptic ambition", a "cultish hierarchy" and of being a secretive Islamic sect.
The Gülen movement is a former ally of the Turkish Justice and Development Party. When the AKP came to power in 2002 the two formed, despite their differences, a tactical alliance against military tutelage and the secular elite. It was through this alliance that the AKP had accomplished an unprecedented feat in Turkish republican history by securing national electoral victories sufficient to form three consecutive majority governments in 2002, 2007, and 2011. The Gülen movement gained influence on the Turkish police force and the judiciary during its alliance with conservative President Erdoğan, which saw hundreds of Gülen supporters appointed to positions within the Turkish government. Once the old establishment was defeated around 2010 to 2011 disagreements emerged between the AKP and the Gülen movement. The first breaking point was the so-called ″MIT crisis″ of February 2012, it was also interpreted as a power struggle between pro-Gülen police and judiciary and the AKP. After the 2013 corruption investigations in Turkey into alleged corrupt practices by several bureaucrats, ministers, mayors, and family members of the ruling AKP of Turkey was uncovered, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan blamed the movement for initiating the investigations as a result of a break in previously friendly relations. President Erdoğan accused Gülen of attempting to overthrow the Turkish government through a judicial coup by the use of corruption investigations and seized the group-owned newspaper (Zaman— one of the most circulated newspapers in Turkey before the seizure) and several companies that have ties with the group.
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Wikipedia