By Ali Aslan
Today’s Zaman Columnist Ali Aslan drew attention to how the critics of the Gulen Movement’s actions amount to be a “Hizmetophobia.” He shares his insights as to the need for constructive criticism toward the movement, however, Mr. Aslan warns against a wide-spread witch hunt that can turn our century into a new “nazi” era. Human endeavor, by its nature, is imperfect and people can make mistakes; but most of the criticism towards the Gulen Movement stems from bigotry and baseless claims, thus lacking the necessary credibility.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recently issued its latest annual report with an embarrassingly long Turkey section. In addition to the problems of minority non-Muslims and Alevis, the commission has also alluded to those of majority Sunni Muslims in Turkey. But a useful term that would describe the main reason for their suffering was missing: Islamophobia.
Islamophobia has been in the veins of the post-Ottoman Turkish republican regime since it was established in 1923. Many founders of the Republic of Turkey were secularist-positivists who held deep reservations about the institution of religion, especially organized Islam. Hence, they employed immense pressure (open and covert) to cleanse religion from public and even private life in this majority Muslim nation. Centuries-old Islamic missions were banned. At one point, teaching the Muslim holy book the Qur'an was illegal. Religious lifestyles often resulted in job and promotion denial, or even expulsion, in some key government institutions, such as the military.
Read more at Today's Zaman
