The JWF President Mustafa Yesil's Letter to the Hürriyet Daily News Editor
Dear Editor,
The piece by Eldar Mamedov titled, "Fethullah Gülen Movement - a view from Brussels" (Hürriyet Daily News, May 27) includes some fair observations, but also grave mistakes.
The latter may be based on misunderstanding, lack of knowledge or flawed sources of information. But there are lots of objective articles, books and academic papers on the Gülen movement that might help the writer, and those who might share his views, to reach a more objective picture.
To sum a few points, one should note that the Gülen Movement has worked to date to foster greater tolerance and diversity in and around Turkey as well as all over the world. All meetings, conferences and seminars of Intercultural Dialogue and Abant Platforms of the Journalists and Writers Foundation, or JWF, are testimonies to that. (Fethullah Gülen is the initiator and the honorary chairman of the JWF.) More importantly, more than a dozen academic conferences held on Gülen and the movement in the United States, Europe or Africa have acknowledged the Gülen movement's dedication to tolerance, peace and reconciliation.
The JWF is clear evidence of the movement's continued dedication to bringing people of diverse backgrounds together. Contrary to Mamedov's claim, the movement has done its utmost to promote good relations between Turkey's Sunni and Alevi Muslims, as well as between Muslims and non-Muslims.
An unbelievable claim in Mamedov's piece is that Mr. Gülen "has a record of defending the use of torture against leftist political prisoners." This is absolutely wrong. There is a huge collection of books and video and audio recordings that present Gülen's views, and they simply include no such statement. In fact Gülen regards torture as a crime against human dignity and has never endorsed it against any member of society, be they leftist or otherwise.
Mamedov also criticizes Gülen for believing that "atheists should bum in hell." Well, Islam, along with other major religions, does teach that deniers of God will be punished in the afterlife. But it is not for Gülen to pronounce who will or will not go to hell or paradise, and he does not do so. Moreover, the movement does not view a person's atheism as an impediment to cooperation, as it has held many meetings that included atheists and agnostics as well. In fact, the long-time chairman of our Abant Platform, professor Mete Tuncay, is an agnostic.
Mamedov also complains about "the movement's male-dominated character." Actually, when compared with other organizations in Turkey, secular or religious, the Gülen movement has a good record of female participation: That certainly is not enough, and that's why we are working hard to raise participation. The Women's Platform of the JWF is an initiative to encourage and support women's participation as well as defending their rights. Finally, we do believe that the Ergenekon case is of crucial importance to Turkey, as we move on to become to a real democracy instead of a de facto military regime. And those who think that we are not just "Gülen's media" but also most of Turkey's secular liberals and democrats.
Mustafa Yeşil
President of the Journalists and Writers Foundation
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