What to do With this Same Blind Prejudice!
Foreign Policy, one of the world's most prestigious periodicals dealing with foreign policy matters, has chosen 100 public intellectuals who occupy very exceptional places in their fields.
Prepared in association with the British magazine Prospect, the list contains intellectuals from various fields who have a distinguished reputation. A list of 20 will be made out of the current list of 100 candidates, which includes Fethullah Gülen.
The New York Times headlined the "Turkish schools" in Pakistan the other day. The NYT is not an ordinary paper; it is one of the most prestigious newspapers in the world. Written by Sabrina Tavernise, the news article scrutinizes the Turkish schools and compares and contrasts them to radical movements within Pakistan. Before writing the piece, she interviewed numerous people, including directors of the schools and parents of students.
The interest in Gülen as seen in the foreign media and academic circles grows by the day. Dozens of articles, books and studies have been published, conferences held, and university chairs founded -- all in his name. Jill Carroll's work, titled "Dialogue of Civilizations" and published a couple of months ago, constitutes a subject to be researched in its own right. The Gülen analysis published two months ago by The Economist was also of high importance; however, the subject was diluted and lost in the confusion created by some of our colleagues who consider the profession of journalism to be twisting the truth by playing with words. The intellectual curiosity toward Gülen is far more seriously focused on abroad and this will remain so.
The prejudiced approach of intellectuals in our country continues in full swing despite the world's effort to understand [Gülen and his movement]. An extraordinary degree of envy, incomprehensible hatred and unacceptable animosity are observed in some of the things that have been written or drawn. Every Turk should be proud of The New York Times headlining the Turkish schools. But that is just not the case here! For instance, a large Turkish paper implicitly attacked the NYT reporter instead of boasting about our country's schools. And it is utterly impossible to understand the lustful excitement this paper fails to hide while running a news article saying "In such and such country, Turkish schools will be closed down." If you ask them, "Excuse me, why does the closing down of Turkish schools make you so happy?" the only answer you are likely to get is nothing more than prejudice dating from the Cold War era. Those who grin from ear to ear when they spot a line or two in the foreign press that praises someone from their own "tribe" are lost in their uncontainable hatred upon seeing the people who they perceive to not be from them gaining appreciation.
There are also fears spread over the phrase "moderate Islam." Apparently, a certain segment in Turkey cannot be made to like Islam in any fashion. They utter all sorts of swear words and insults, hiding behind the "radical Islam" slogan; they make all sorts of excoriating statements, hiding behind the "political Islam" slogan; and they fabricate all sorts of incredulous scenarios, hiding behind the "moderate Islam" slogan. When you ask them "What sort of Islam would you prefer?" what you will find is massive silence because they have questions in their minds about Islam itself. The prime minister is being scrutinized today for saying, "Islam is Islam; there is no moderate or immoderate Islam." Is there a logical way to explain his being scrutinized for saying this?
The Islamic world is grappling with gigantic problems and is losing its hope to the inferiority complex stemming from continuously losing [to the West]. This feeling of being exhausted and being a loser caters to radical tendencies. The Islamophobia that has been unleashed in a horrendous manner, particularly after Sept. 11, has not only played into the hands of those who had always been ill-intentioned toward Islam, but also provided even more efficient materials to the groups labeled as "extremely Islamist." The illegitimate occupation of Iraq and the outrageous errors committed there have turned into general hatred in the Islamic world.
Democratic efforts of civil society influenced by Gülen's speeches and writings have reopened the gates of hope for very many people. The idea "Apparently, we, too, can achieve things without casting a shadow on our own independence" has given birth to a loving self-confidence around the world. The world can see this reality; however, some hateful circles in Turkey still approach the issue with ideological obsessions. It's high time they said: "Maybe we are mistaken. We are losing to the habits and complacency caused by living in the same age with such an important man of thought," and gotten engaged in self-criticism. The reason why the matter is perceived much more clearly abroad is that there is not as terrible a case of blindness there as the one caused by preconceptions here. It is not easy to cleanse one's self of prejudices, but it is very obvious that it is not impossible to do that.
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