If it is possible to make a schema of the areas of activities of the Gülen Movement, what kinds of activities and groups of activities can be mentioned?
After stating that the movement consists of both societal and individual efforts, Fethullah Gülen mentions six main activities of the Gülen Movement:
- Education
- Health
- Broadcasting and print media
- Finance
- Interfaith and intercultural dialog
- Business (investments, trade, services, and industry)
After enumerating the movement’s activities, he calls our attention to what the state actors can do and what the civil society actors can do and the indispensability of each complementing the other.
There are certain things that the state performs and we cannot. But there are certain other things that the state might not be able to do, like the establishment of schools and cultural centers. To an extent, those are some of the things, dependent upon international relationships. You might have very good relations for a while with a state. Your industrial, commercial, economic, and cultural relationships might be very good. But, there are constant changes taking place in the world. You see that France is standing next to you. Another moment, suddenly you see that she is against you. You observe that the Netherlands is with you, and after a while she is against you. Let us say the state is opening a university at one place, at another a high school, yet at another place a language course. When doing something like that depends on the international relationships, then at the moment that relation goes sour, they would close down all of them.
In my opinion, an intelligent state would act with alternatives in this matter. It would activate the civil establishments. It would try to do certain things, at a national level, appropriate to the dignity of a state. But meanwhile it would have some other alternatives. It would say to the civil organizations, “You do also certain other things. By accident, if our relationship with this government breaks down, you would continue the same thing.” And it indeed occurred as I have described. Because the relationship of a government in Central Asia with Turkey broke down, the educational activities there were prevented.
In my opinion, a wise state would hold a lot of alternatives. It should not even say schools, language courses, and cultural centers, but it would and should establish also a theatre group, a movie group; when someone says, “Get out!” and you leave, you would leave behind some others who would be permanent there. They would continue the same thought and the project, would continue the movement. We should hold many alternatives. Just like the different shoots of a plant from many channels, we should rise and go to four corners of the world.[1]
[1] “Bu Hareket Devlete Alternatif mi?” (Is this movement an alternative of the state?), fgulen.com/tr/abd-sohbetleri/kirik-testi/12134-fethullah-gulen-bu-hareket-devlete-alternatif-mi
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