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Why Gülen’s followers never criticize
Gülen and his view of the Kurdish problem
24.9.2012
By Dr. Aland Mizell
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Ekurd.net
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Muhammed Fethullah Gulen, is a Turkish preacher,
author, educator, and Sufi Muslim scholar living in
self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania (USA), he the founder and leader of
the Gulen movement.
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By Dr. Aland Mizell
September 24, 2012
Denial is a common tactic for Gulenists and their
leader who substitute deliberate ignorance for
thoughtful planning. The definition of denial is
simply refusing to acknowledge that an event has
occurred. The person or group affected simply act as
if nothing has happened. It is no longer a secret
that Gülen is a government inside the government in
Turkey, and soon he and his followers will probably
form their own party too; that is why I believe they
have the power to be the one biggest obstacle to the
Kurdish peace process, and that they are the ones
who have blocked the Prime Minister’s efforts to
start dialogues with the PKK. Gülen and his
followers deny there is a Kurdish problem, while so
many innocent people get killed as a result of the
problem in Turkey.
Gulenists are in Turkey and outside of Turkey
working hard to disseminate misinformation about
Kurds and the BDP party. Gülen’s followers believe
Gülen never is at fault and that he knows the
ultimate truth; therefore, what Gülen says is true
and no one can criticize him. Granted, I do not have
any doubt about Gulen’s intellectuality or
intelligence, his love for his country, or his hard
work to disseminate information about the Turkish
way of life. But what I struggle with is very
simple. If we are human beings, and if human beings
are not perfect, then Gülen must make mistakes. It
follows that, if he makes mistakes, then his
followers should also be free to criticize those
mistakes. Further, I believe Gülen is mistaken in
his denial that there is a Kurdish problem and his
affirmation that only a few Kurdish people create
problems and thus they must be killed or destroyed.
The problem with the group’s thinking is that,
especially in the Gülen movement, even if the leader
makes a mistake, the follower must obey and be
loyal, and not criticize him, because if the
individual does, then he or she would be
automatically considered a traitor. For example,
Gülen gave an interview on January 13, 2005, to
Mehmet Gundem, who asked Gülen about the Kurdish
problem and Leyla Zana. This former imprisoned
Parliamentarian and her friends published an
announcement in the French Press saying that Turkey
should become a truly democratic country respecting
cultural variety and political pluralism, and that
Turkey must guarantee the same rights for her
citizens of Kurdish origin that are demanded for the
Turks in Cyprus.
Mr. Gülen answered Zana’s remarks , “The demand
listed in that announcement was disrespectful, in my
opinion. In the past, Zana and others committed
another disrespectful act in the Parliament, which
should never have happened. I have heard and met
many people, and as far as I know, 90-95 % of the
citizens in the South East [Turkey] do not support
such demands.” Gülen continued, “I estimate that the
number of all those people who instigate the
mischief in the South East has never been more than
500; but they attack in a ‘hit and run’ manner, so
that it is not easy for an organized force to fight
them. “ Instead of Gulen’s recognizing what the
state has done to the Kurdish people, he was asking
Kurds to apologize to the people for asking to be
treated as equal or speaking their God-given
language, but no one dares say that it is actually
the state that should apologize to the Kurds, not
that the Kurds should apologize. Why has no one
asked Gülen to apologize for being silent and
denying the facts and truth about the oppression of
millions of Kurds?
Denial is a form of repression; repression and
denial are two primary defense mechanisms that
Gulenists are using as of now regarding the Kurdish
problem. Mr. Gülen fails to understand that the BDP
is the fourth largest party in the Turkish
Parliament and the only Kurdish party that is
totally committed to the cause of the Kurdish people
and willing to solve the Kurdish problem. He fails
to realize that more than two million people voted
for them, and more than 100 Kurdish mayors have been
jailed. Actually Mr. Gülen might be mixing his
numbers: the 500 Kurdish intellectuals, journalists,
politicians, and other Kurds in jail because they
refuse to accept the oppression and denial with the
number he has assigned to the PKK or “those who hit
and run” in the category of “those causing trouble.”
The question is why does no one dare to criticize or
correct him? How can an organization like Gülen’s
movement establish a government inside the
government and become democratic if no one dares to
object to the leader, even if he is wrong? If the
leader denies the Kurdish problem and thus even
denies the truth and the facts,www.ekurd.net
how can the Kurdish problem can be solved? According
to Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy in ‘War and Peace’,
at the approach of danger there are always two
voices that speak with equal force in the heart of
man; one very reasonably tells the man to consider
the nature of the danger and the means of avoiding
it; the other even more reasonably says that it is
too painful and harassing to think of the danger;
since it is not in man’s power to provide for
everything and to escape from the general march of
events, it is therefore better to turn aside from
the painful subjects until it has come, and not
think of what is unpleasant. In solitude a man
generally yields to the first voice; in society to
the second. Tolstoy speaks of man’s tendency to
ignore problems.
But Gulenists should know that truth would ruin
their deception about the Kurdish reality. One of
the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize
a problem before it becomes an emergency. If today
the Kurdish problem has become an emergency, it is
because of the denial of the Kurdish problem; if
Gulenists are criticizing the Prime Minister for
covering up the death of 35 Kurds during an air
strike conducted by the Turkish Air Forces on the
Iraqi-Turkish border, then Gulenists should also
criticize Mr. Gülen for not recognizing the Kurdish
problem as well.
Dr. Aland Mizell is with the University of
Mindanao School of Social Science, President of the
MCI and a regular contributor to the Kurdish Media.
You may reach the author via email at:
aland_mizell2@hotmail.com
Copyright
© 2012 Ekurd.net
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expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author
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