A True Nationalist Speaks

Last June Istanbul hosted the fourth International Turkish Olympics. Three hundred fifty-five students from 84 countries joined the contest using our language -- Turkish.

"This is the authentic nationalism," cried everybody in the audience who, I believe, had not yet lost their patriotic feelings. For authentic nationalism means to have a correct reading of the world and to believe that Turkey's spirit, which does not exist all over the world, will be able to occupy the place it deserves.
Fethullah Gülen has revived this spirit. In my view, he is the greatest living nationalist. I find it useful to have an accurate knowledge of his notion of nationalism these days when there is wide-ranging debate over nationalism. This is Gülen's nationalism:

"It creates turbulence in my heart to see our people being rendered to the position of a beggar who asks for help from somebody else and suffering from financial, social and moral crises. Our people, who always led the age in various fields, ranging from natural sciences to religious sciences, from mysticism to logic, from city planning to aesthetics, thanks to the geniuses who examined these very carefully, thanks to the scholars of Islamic law, thanks to the minds who led their lives conscientiously and whose abilities surpassed human standards, thanks to the heroes of good judgment and foresight, and thanks to the geniuses of art, will make a second or third renaissance happen after a temporary period of time when the sum of bright souls and minds are re-awakened.

"It is only valuable when feelings of sorrow and resentment against the current needy and destitute state of our people prompt us to make determined efforts to get our people on their feet again, to resurrect the national spirit and to help them locate their essence over again. The most important thing that needs the utmost attention from us is the need to preserve the essence, fundamental nature and national characteristics of our people. The resurrection of our people will not only lead to the resurrection of one single nation but also to the resurrection of the entire Islamic world, thereby creating a world-wide equilibrium.

"Some may make an allusion to our people when they ask the question, out of sheer jealousy and intolerance, 'Why us but not them?' The friends of the Prophet Mohammed as an Arabic nation rapidly enjoyed the fruits of their efforts. But, as you may well know, it was only a magnificent period of thirty years. With the periods of the Umayyah and of Abbasid dynasties added, it amounts to a period of three centuries. After that, the Turks took the stage.

"If the Arabs claimed to be a nation of great honor and value, they would be right to make a claim of this kind. The Islamic Prophet Mohammed, the sole source of pride for humans, descended from the Arabs. But a different argument from the Turks may be follow as: 'Well, it's true that he is our prophet, for whom we are ready to die. But Allah has given us such a good spirit of nationality that we managed over the past nine centuries to keep the flag of the Prophet Mohammed flying high. We became a shield for the Islamic world, keeping the Islamic religion safe against threats that came from all four directions, from China, Indian as well as Yemen.' This was at those times engraved in minds, and became subliminal. The kind of nations that made the mistake of resembling others in the not-too-distant past will follow after us after we are resurrected. Today, Turkey serves as a cradle for a glorious nation that has become united. And when I say 'our people,' I am actually referring to all Anatolian people, keeping myself entirely away from the discourse of racism.

"We should spend all our efforts to solve the problems, definitely not to exhaust our determination and thereby ourselves by filling with anger at negative things and shouting at people in resentment."

(Kirik Testi, The Publications of the Journalists and Writers' Foundation, "The Resurrection of Our People," Pg. 131-140)