Where and how did Fethullah Gülen’s ideas on education and service to the community take form?

In 1966, Yaşar Tunagür, who had known Fethullah Gülen from earlier in his career, became deputy head of the country's Directorate of Religious Affairs.

On assuming his position in Ankara, Yaşar Tunagür assigned Fethullah Gülen to the post that he himself had just vacated in Izmir on the Aegean coast.

On March 11, Fethullah Gülen was transferred to the Izmir region, where he held managerial responsibility for a mosque, a student study and boarding-hall, and for preaching in the Aegean region. He continued to live ascetically. For almost five years he lived in a tiny hut near the Kestanepazari Hall and took no wages for his services.

It was during these years that Fethullah Gülen’s ideas on education and service to the community began to mature and take definite form. From 1969 he set up meetings in coffee houses, lecturing all around the provinces and in the villages of the region. He also organized summer camps for middle and high school students.