Der Standard, Vienna, Austria April 8, 2011
"The fallen sons of Mr. Gulen"
by Markus Bernath
The original article in German, published in "Der Standard," one of Austria's best-selling newspapers, can be viewed here.
Hundreds of journalists protested against the arrest of their colleagues and for freedom of the Press in March. (Photo shows protesters carrying photos of jailed journalists Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener.)
Chronology: Reporter detained.
Two former pupils of the elite Islamic Movement tell their story
The Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen has founded a movement with the aim of training an elite group of believers who will go into business and government. Two former pupils from schools of the "community" tell their story.
One comes from Maras in the southeast, the other from Kocaeli, the industrial province in the west, and both were chosen to become cogs in the great wheel of the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen’s "community." They had been observed already during their school years, and would very likely have received a scholarship to study in the U.S. like so many others before and after them - the ticket to a career in booming Turkey. "They study your behavior and look for those that have potential," say the two young men.
Fatih and Umut (names changed by the editor) had potential, but in the end, also their own free will. And the latter caused them to abandon the Gulen movement. Fatih carries that with him to this day. "People who are serious about their Islamic faith do not kick a 17-year-old from the provinces out into the streets of Istanbul." Fatih had been caught playing cards; Umut fell out with the dormitory leader due to a room exchange. Maybe in earlier days the "community" would have tried to correct those mistakes of their young talent. But the time for that was no more.
Too big too fast
In the last seven to eight years, since the conservative Muslim AKP has been in power in Turkey, the "cemaat," as the two men quietly call the Gulen movement, has changed. "It has become so huge, so massive and omnipresent that it has become difficult to control them," said Umut. Lawlessness has broken out in the community; there is fraud and intrigue, and meanwhile the canvassing for new members simply never stops. "And yet they still do not find the perfect children."
Umut is now 23, Fatih 24. Both study mechanical engineering at Marmara University in Istanbul, one of the universities in the Turkish metropolis where the Gulen movement finances and guides students. They are two exceptional young men, very polite, very self-controlled, without question of above-average talent. Umut was among the 40 best in his class at the end of high school and got a 70 percent discount off the cost of private schools of the Gulen movement, the schools which prepare Turkish youth for the entrance exams of universities. These "dershane," as they are called, exist because the public schools fail in this respect. And Gulen’s dershane are considered the best in the country, and are even counted among the best in the world. For the school system of the preacher has spread over the entire world in recent years.
Fatih was 14 when he was approached by representatives of the Gulen. He had been admitted to the science high school in Sivas in the Kurdish southeast of Turkey, and became a "guest" in one of the apartments that the "community" runs in the city. They are comfortable, spacious apartments; Fatih’s weekend home even had a hot tub. Later, in Istanbul, he would be housed with other students in a 180 square meter apartment near the Baghdad street in the expensive Bostanci district. "They don’t meddle so much in the first year. But after the second year the pressure increases. They invite everyone, and when you see that everyone goes, then you also go to them."
Many donors
The cemaat has many financial sponsors: big companies, small businesses, business people who perhaps provide the furnishings for the "guest houses" because it was signified to them that they should think about the future of their business. Everyone is connected to everybody. Even the businessmen of a city meet in a community circle, which they call "Hizmet" - the "Service" – and report if they go on a journey outside the area. The boundaries between convention and control are blurred. "Hizmet" is also a term that appears in the speeches of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as a signal; Zaman, the title of the newspaper with the highest print run and a product of the Gulen empire, when read backwards is "namaz" - "Prayer". It is the sort of material that conspiracy theories are made of.
At the beginning it's just recreational fun, says Fatih. Football, theater, discussions in small groups of four to five peers, organized by the leaders. "After a while they start to talk about religion." About the youth who are appointed to be the leaders for Islam. Private lessons in religion are in themselves nothing unusual, says Fatih. "It's in our tradition." But then there is the calculation and coercion of the cemaat. "They want to give you the feeling that you are a unique human being. And if you do not follow them, then they let you sense how lonely you are."
(Markus Bernath from Istanbul / Der Standard, print edition, April 9, 2011)
Hundreds of journalists protested against the arrest of their colleagues and for freedom of the Press in March. (Photo shows protesters carrying photos of jailed journalists Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener.)
Chronology: Reporter detained.
- March 3, 2011 Ten journalists, including Ahmet Sik (author of the previously unpublished book "The army of the Imam," which is critical of Gulen), are arrested.
- March 4 Against the backdrop of the arrests, the European Commission calls on Turkey to protect press freedom.
- In mid-March hundreds of journalists in Turkey take to the streets to protest against the arrests.
- At the end of March, Prosecutor Zekeriya Oz confiscates all of Sik’s manuscripts and is then removed from office.
Two former pupils of the elite Islamic Movement tell their story
The Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen has founded a movement with the aim of training an elite group of believers who will go into business and government. Two former pupils from schools of the "community" tell their story.
One comes from Maras in the southeast, the other from Kocaeli, the industrial province in the west, and both were chosen to become cogs in the great wheel of the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen’s "community." They had been observed already during their school years, and would very likely have received a scholarship to study in the U.S. like so many others before and after them - the ticket to a career in booming Turkey. "They study your behavior and look for those that have potential," say the two young men.
Fatih and Umut (names changed by the editor) had potential, but in the end, also their own free will. And the latter caused them to abandon the Gulen movement. Fatih carries that with him to this day. "People who are serious about their Islamic faith do not kick a 17-year-old from the provinces out into the streets of Istanbul." Fatih had been caught playing cards; Umut fell out with the dormitory leader due to a room exchange. Maybe in earlier days the "community" would have tried to correct those mistakes of their young talent. But the time for that was no more.
Too big too fast
In the last seven to eight years, since the conservative Muslim AKP has been in power in Turkey, the "cemaat," as the two men quietly call the Gulen movement, has changed. "It has become so huge, so massive and omnipresent that it has become difficult to control them," said Umut. Lawlessness has broken out in the community; there is fraud and intrigue, and meanwhile the canvassing for new members simply never stops. "And yet they still do not find the perfect children."
Umut is now 23, Fatih 24. Both study mechanical engineering at Marmara University in Istanbul, one of the universities in the Turkish metropolis where the Gulen movement finances and guides students. They are two exceptional young men, very polite, very self-controlled, without question of above-average talent. Umut was among the 40 best in his class at the end of high school and got a 70 percent discount off the cost of private schools of the Gulen movement, the schools which prepare Turkish youth for the entrance exams of universities. These "dershane," as they are called, exist because the public schools fail in this respect. And Gulen’s dershane are considered the best in the country, and are even counted among the best in the world. For the school system of the preacher has spread over the entire world in recent years.
Fatih was 14 when he was approached by representatives of the Gulen. He had been admitted to the science high school in Sivas in the Kurdish southeast of Turkey, and became a "guest" in one of the apartments that the "community" runs in the city. They are comfortable, spacious apartments; Fatih’s weekend home even had a hot tub. Later, in Istanbul, he would be housed with other students in a 180 square meter apartment near the Baghdad street in the expensive Bostanci district. "They don’t meddle so much in the first year. But after the second year the pressure increases. They invite everyone, and when you see that everyone goes, then you also go to them."
Many donors
The cemaat has many financial sponsors: big companies, small businesses, business people who perhaps provide the furnishings for the "guest houses" because it was signified to them that they should think about the future of their business. Everyone is connected to everybody. Even the businessmen of a city meet in a community circle, which they call "Hizmet" - the "Service" – and report if they go on a journey outside the area. The boundaries between convention and control are blurred. "Hizmet" is also a term that appears in the speeches of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as a signal; Zaman, the title of the newspaper with the highest print run and a product of the Gulen empire, when read backwards is "namaz" - "Prayer". It is the sort of material that conspiracy theories are made of.
At the beginning it's just recreational fun, says Fatih. Football, theater, discussions in small groups of four to five peers, organized by the leaders. "After a while they start to talk about religion." About the youth who are appointed to be the leaders for Islam. Private lessons in religion are in themselves nothing unusual, says Fatih. "It's in our tradition." But then there is the calculation and coercion of the cemaat. "They want to give you the feeling that you are a unique human being. And if you do not follow them, then they let you sense how lonely you are."
(Markus Bernath from Istanbul / Der Standard, print edition, April 9, 2011)