Has the Gülen Movement ever formed an alliance with a political party?

No, the Gülen Movement has never allied itself with any established political party. This independence has secured it a certain measure of success. Although the Gülen Movement originated as a faith-inspired initiative, participants see that their faith does not need control of a state or political party to survive, but does need the educated, the financially well-off and a fully democratic system.

Fethullah Gülen’s ideas differ clearly both from those of ultra- and neo-nationalists, and from political and moderate Islamists in his emphasis on the entrance of Turkey into mainstream global processes and a market economy and his stress on intellectual development and tolerance.