Turkey’s Religious Exile Community On Agenda in Wake of Cosan Death

The death of Esad Cosan, one of the leaders of the Nakshi sect, in Australia has brought a new topic onto the agenda as the traffic accident has moved the focus onto religious leaders who left the country during the February 28 process and continued their activities abroad. The development actually signals a new movement which underlines a burgeoning religious exile community out of Turkey, mostly in the Western world.

Two examples are the late Esad Cosan and Fethullah Gülen who is in the U.S. for health reasons. Both religious leaders have a large group of followers engaged in opening schools, hospitals and running newspapers and magazines both in Turkey and abroad. Cosan, after leaving Turkey criticising the practices of February 28 process, settled in Australia and pursued his activities abroad drawing many of his supporters to Australia. He died in a traffic accident on Sunday when he was going to Dubbo, a city 600 km from Sydney to attend a conference.

Cosan was a prominent Islamic leader who was influential in politics. He, for a long time supported Necmettin Erbakan, the leader of the defunct Welfare Party (RP) and the political parties he founded starting with National Order Party (MNP) and then National Salvation Party (MSP), Welfare Party (RP) and Virtue Party (FP) respectively. Later he had withdrawn his support from the RP and the FP as Erbakan asked Cosan to obey his orders. It is known that many followers of Cosan went to Australia after him to continue their activities there.

Unlike Cosan, Fethullah Gülen, another prominent Islamic leader of Turkey, did not criticise the practices of the February 28, but nevertheless left Turkey on March 22, 1999 for treatment in the United States. Gülen who is well-known for his education activities in Central Asian republics and several countries in the Balkans, is considered to be a religious leader with views close to those of the state. Sources close to Fethullah Gülen deny the allegations that he left Turkey because of the February 28 process, instead they say he had to go under treatment for heart problems, diabetics and high blood pressure. They stress that Gülen was invited to the United States by Mayo Clinic in January 1999.

There is a pending trial against Gülen at the Ankara State Security Court (DGM) for creating an Islamic terrorist organization to change the regime of the country. Sources close to Gülen argue that he did not leave the country because of the court case, stating that the investigation against Gülen started in June 1999 and he left the country much earlier, in March of the same year. They argue that Gülen will return to the country as soon as his treatment is over. Whatever the case, Gülen, like the late Cosan, has been living abroad for the last 2 years in a period when the February 28 process practises were strictly adhered to.

Cosan and Gülen have led to another development which is the formation of religious exile communities abroad. 2001-07-02 00:00:00