November 2017

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

The Fountain

12498

What Went Wrong With Turkey?

Asli recounts how her mother-in-law recently caught her six-year-old son stealing a pomegranate from the neighbour’s tree. When she asked her grandson why he was stealing, he replied: "I’m stealing th... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

M. Fethullah Gulen

14410

The Turkey I No Longer Know

The Turkey that I once knew as a hope-inspiring country on its way to consolidating its democracy and a moderate form of secularism has become the dominion of a president who is doing everything he ca... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Yüksel A. Aslandoğan, PhD

13933

What Really Happened in Turkey on July 15, 2016? An Alternative to the Turkish Government Narrative

On July 15, 2016, Turkey experienced a horrific event: an unsuccessful military coup. But a year after the tragedy, questions about what really happened remain unanswered. What we know for sure is tha... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Philip Clayton, PhD

12474

“And not equal are the good deed and the bad” - On Violence, Power, and Peace in Turkey’s Most Disastrous Year

Why do the most violent people in the world accuse the most peaceful of violence? The last year represents one of the darkest periods in modern Turkish history. In lectures around the world, I once a... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Jon Pahl, PhD

11892

A Meditation on Persecution

Among the many gospel hymns and spirituals that have provided strength for a suffering people over the decades, one has stayed with me in recent weeks. That song—sung by the great soul artis... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Peter A. Cohen, PhD

12098

“Have You No Sense of Decency?” An Open Letter to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Mr. Erdoğan: I have visited your lovely country no less than five times over the past ten years. On four of these visits, members of the Hizmet movement were my guides. I have also proudly been assoc... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Scott C. Alexander, PhD

12825

What Went Wrong? Purge, Persecution, and the Imperative to Stand with the Innocent in Turkey

The disturbing meme depicting criminals impaled on hooks with the words "The ideal method of execution for [the members of] the Fethullah Terrorist Organization: The Ottoman Way" is making i... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Sophia Pandya, PhD

12162

Erdoǧan’s Most Vulnerable Victims: Women and Children

Human rights violations in Turkey have increased exponentially in the aftermath of the July 15, 2016 attempted coup. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan blamed the plot on the Hizmet (Gül... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Thomas Michel, PhD

11823

The Gülen Community: Who to Believe – Politicians or Actions?

In the aftermath of the attempted coup on July 15, 2016, Turkish government has launched an unprecedented purge – with no evidence linking a vast majority of those pu read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Ori Z. Soltes

11804

Turkey’s Coup That Was Never a Coup

Note: I first wrote most of the words that follow these in August, 2016, a month after the “coup” in Turkey. Between then and now, things in that splendid country have only gotten worse, and there are... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

David L. Phillips, PhD

10725

Was Turkey's Coup For Real?

Much speculation exists about the coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016. Some even call it a “false-coup,” which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan organized in order to justify a crackdown against oppos read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Anwar Alam, PhD

10729

Turkey: A State Under One-Man Rule

The July 15, 2016, failed military coup in Turkey, among others, has accelerated and strengthened the Erdoğan regime’s authoritarianism (albeit the democratic aspiration reflected in the people’s resi... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Zaman Stanizai, PhD

10708

Civil Liberties in the Throes of Turkish Authoritarianism

Objectivity in political analysis is a luxury often claimed, but rarely earned. Governments, no matter how responsive to public demands, often fall short of the people’s expectations and are, therefor... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Talip Aydın, PhD

10415

Judicial Independence No More: The Step-by-Step Destruction of the Rule of Law in Turkey

Judicial independence in Turkey has been dying for a long time, but it was annihilated after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. A comprehensive portrait of how the country, once a beacon of dem... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Sage Chen

10485

Erdoğan’s Fight against the Gülen Movement & The Demise of Turkish State Rationality

Since the corruption scandal of December 2013, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has waged an all-out war against the Gülen (or Hizmet) movement. The anti-Gülenist campaign started with... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Greg Barton, PhD

10325

What On Earth Has Gone So Wrong in Turkey?

One year after the mysterious coup attempt of July 15, the situation in Turkey has become much clearer. Unfortunately, it has also become much darker. In the confusing hours of that terrible... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Faruk Mercan

10398

No Return from Democracy: Democracy in the Thought of Gülen and Erdoğan’s Politics

Many countries around the world are facing a crises of democracy. With authoritarianism on the rise, countries from Asia to Europe to the Americas are grappling with critical choices about g... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Rev. Dr. Ian G. Williams

10885

"Ours Is Not a Caravan of Despair" - The Hizmet Movement of Fethullah Gülen and the Common Good – A Perspective from the UK

The Hizmet (service, in Turkish) movement associated with the Turkish teacher Fethullah Gülen [b. 1941] is part of the emerging “European Islam” which has its own diversity in the expression of Turkis... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Imam Omar Shakir

11051

Hizmet Embraces the Entire Human Family

I'm saddened to hear that the Hizmet Movement here is being categorized as a terror group. I've been working with them now for the past eight years. I've had an opportunity to work closely with them ... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Shaykh Muhammad Fathi Hijazi

12060

Fethullah Gülen Is One of the Most Distinguished Islamic Scholars of Our Century

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said, “Scholars are heirs of the prophets.” The Islamic intellectual, the honorable Fethullah Gülen, is one of the distinguished scholars of our century. He i... read more..

01 Nov

Special Issue 2017

Ahmed Rehab

11577

Hizmet Is a True Embodiment of the Islamic Ideals of Love and Service to the Other

I have seen many un-Islamic cults play out in the word today: ISIS, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, al-Shabab. Hizmet is not an un-Islamic cult. From my interaction with the volunteers, it is anything... read more..

01 Nov