"Gülen Movement Becomes Best-linked Muslim Network"
The Gülen movement has turned into the most powerful and best-connected of networks competing to influence Muslims around the globe, influential weekly The Economist claimed in an article dated March 6, 2008.
In two articles published about Fethullah Gülen, who resides in the US state of Pennsylvania, and the movement named after him, The Economist stated that this "Turkish-based movement sounds more reasonable than most of its rivals and is vying to be recognized as the world's leading Muslim network." Comparing the Gülen movement with internationally established Muslim networks such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation) and the Tablighi Jamaat of south Asian roots, The Economist commented that compared with all these groups that advocate a certain level of isolation from Western political life, the Gülen movement offers a message to young Muslims that sounds more positive. "It tells them to embrace the Western world's opportunities, while still insisting on Islam's fundamentals," the weekly said.
The Economist also made a distinction between the Gülen movement and other Muslim networks in that most of those networks’ embrace of democracy is not as benign as that of the Gülen movement. Aware of the doubts of secular Turks in Turkey, where the Gülen movement is seen as a counterweight to ultra-nationalism, The Economist commented the movement is under surveillance from Western security services, which have so far not detected any hidden ties with extremism.
The Economist presented Gülen as an intensely emotional preacher, whose tearful sermons seem to strike a deep chord in his listeners, but also mentioned his stated belief in science, inter-faith dialogue and multi-party democracy. Informing its readership about the worldwide “places of learning” the movement has established, The Economist was amazed to find the movement active in northern Iraq, where the movement has established schools, a hospital and (soon) a university, thus bypassing the Turkish-Kurdish conflict and establishing relationships with all the region’s ethnic and religious groups.
While preparing the articles, The Economist correspondent visited Gülen’s hometown of Erzurum and the small village Korucuk with buildings made of mud, stone and thatch, where Gülen was born. Speaking to the locals, who are eager to praise Gülen, The Economist observed that the words of this periphery-born preacher induced people to become both devout and generous, helping educational institutions established by the movement all over the world. The weekly also observed that women affiliated with the movement are active in door-to-door preaching. “Gülen-affiliated groups in İstanbul can seem quite liberal-with bare-headed and headscarved women mingling happily,” commented The Economist.
The weekly also elaborated on the claim that many of Turkey’s police are Gülen sympathizers and the observation that while remaining “apolitical,” the movement manages to have links with almost all Turkish political parties, save the main secular opposition. The Economist claimed that in order to not be seen as sympathetic to the Gülen movement, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is holding back from replacing İstanbul’s chief of police, whom, the weekly said, the Gülen movement wants changed. Though unconfirmed by both the İstanbul chief of police and any representative body of the Gülen movement, this claim of the weekly found its way into the headline of one Turkish daily, Taraf.
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