By going to verified sites and claiming this $20 daily bonus, people can circumvent the restrictions placed by the Turkish government concerning the funding of Fethullah’s various projects. Mr. Gulen’s father Ramiz Gulen, was an imam in the region and his mother, Refia Gulen, was the…, Current News on Fethullah Gulen Books In a compilation book of his essays, perspectives, and opinions, “The Necessity of Interfaith Dialogue,” Fethullah Gulen emphasizes respecting human values even vis-à-vis those who perform acts that violate those values, and on never ceasing to ally one`s … Trudy Conway from Mount St.…, In his latest book, Embracing the World, Ori Z. Soltes makes distinct connections between Rumi in his time and M. Fethullah Gulen in our time. Any lobbying by him on behalf of another country could be the subject of an investigation. Gülen, who became a permanent U.S. resident in 2006, was acquitted of the charges in 2008, after Erdogan became prime minister. 1963 – Founder of Erzurum branch of the Association to Combat Communism, a body allegedly linked with foreign intelligence services. Some accounts, usually older ones, give it as 10 November 1938, while others give 27 April 1941. 2008 – In a video dated 2008, Gulen said: “Both those who are encouraged and those institutions belong to this country. © 2020 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC Terms of Use/Privacy Policy. Gülen, who is in his late 70s or early 80s, is a Muslim cleric who teaches a philosophy based in Islamic mysticism mixed with advocacy for education and democracy. One unusual way this organization gets support is through online casino sites. Several senior politicians including President Suleyman Demirel, opposition party leader Alparslan Turkes and business people participated in the opening ceremony. Gülen has repeatedly denied the allegations. Gulen also preached in the surrounding regions. He first he came to the United States in 1999 for medical treatment — he has heart problems and diabetes. Mr. Gulen attended his formal primary education in his home village, and after the family moved to a nearby village, he began an informal religious education. 2000 – Prosecutors in Turkey launched an investigation into Gulen due to a video surfacing in which he stated: “You must move in the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centers…You must wait for the time when you are complete and conditions are ripe, until we can shoulder the entire world and carry it…You must wait until such time as you have gotten all the state power…in Turkey…Until that time, any step taken would be too early—like breaking an egg without waiting the full forty days for it to hatch.”. According to the Washington Post, Rudy Giuliani privately urged President Donald Trump in 2017 to return a Turkish cleric living in exile in the Poconos back to Turkey to face criminal charges. The two men were once close, sharing a common desire to turn Turkey from the secular state that emerged after World War I to one that is nationalist, conservative, and religious, something Erdogan has mostly succeeded in doing since beginning his rise to power in 2003. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly sought the extradition of Fethullah Gülen, saying the one-time associate turned foe has plotted to overthrow his government. Interested in how Pennsylvania is shaping the 2020 election? Gulen was likewise selected by Time in 2013. "FETO Facts" is a project of Bosphorus Global, Chronological Biography of Fetullah Gulen. He rarely speaks … 1975-76 –Gulen gave a number of conferences throughout Turkey with the intention of increasing his audience. This was followed by the establishment of Saman Yolu TV in 1993, and the Cihan News Agency in 1994. Known for his Gulen Movement that promotes education and inter-religious dialogue, he is prosecuted by the current Turkish government on corruption charges. Last year, Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, became entangled in a criminal case against two business partners charged with conspiring to “covertly and unlawfully” influence U.S. politicians in an effort to get Gülen extradited. After that, Erdogan went after Gülenist schools and moved to purge its members from the courts, government, and military. Sign up to receive our newsletter every Wednesday. He said, “We see this as the latest in a series of troubling judicial and law enforcement actions taken by the Turkish government targeting media…, Erdogan Suggested to Take Over Hizmet-Inspired School Abroad During his speech at the conference of ambassadors in Ankara… Read More, Helen R Ebaugh’s book on Fethullah Gulen Movement continues to draw attention around the globe. Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor and now Trump’s lawyer, is not a registered foreign agent. Mr. Gulen’s father Ramiz Gulen was an imam in the region and his mother, Refia Gulen, was the primary caregiver of the family and a major influence on Mr. Gulen’s spiritual and religious upbringing. His codefendant, Ekim Alptekin, is a fugitive believed to be living in Turkey. 1979 – Established Sizinti magazine.

2014 – Turkey’s National Security Council officially designated organizations connected to Gulen as constituting a ‘parallel state’ which engages in illegal activity under a veneer of legality. 1997 – While in the United States for medical treatment, Gulen met with Anti-Defamation League chairperson Abraham H. Foxman. Love and Compassion from Fethullah Gulen`s Point of View, Fethullah-gulen.org News: Takeover of Zaman Newspaper, Fethullah Gulen Sends Condolences for Bulent Arinc’s Brother, Turkey Archives : Fethullah Gulen Travel Blog, Gulen’s Pedagogy and the Challenges for Modern Educators. Mass arrests and purges within the government followed as Erdogan blamed Gülen for the coup attempt and demanded his extradition from the United States. Dormitories became a crucial center for the movement to recruit and indoctrinate followers. Fethullah GÜLEN © Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved. 1989 – Again with the intention of increasing his audience, Gulen embarked on a speaking tour in the largest mosques in Turkey’s metropolises. Ariel Salzmann, an associate professor of Islamic and world history at Queen’s University in Canada, has said their relationship started to come apart when followers of Gülen, known as Gülenists, in the police and judiciary “became a little too independent” under Erdogan’s government. ‘Houses of Light’ were the most basic form of organization. Gulen sought to demonstrate that his claimed date of birth was evidence of a divine mission to save Turkey from secularism. 1992 – Gulen opened schools abroad, beginning in the former Soviet Republics. It was during this period that Gulen became acquainted with the works of Said Nursi. Federal agents began investigating Flynn in 2016, right after Trump’s election, for possible violations of lobbying law, after Flynn wrote an op-ed for The Hill attacking Gülen as a “radical Islamist” and a “shady Islamic mullah.” Prosecutors also looked into reports that Flynn had discussed kidnapping Gülen and forcibly returning him to Turkey, but Flynn denied any such plot and has not been charged in that regard. 1962 – While performing his military service, Gulen continued to preach in mosques.

It is a right for a true member of the nation to infiltrate institutions such as the public service, judiciary, intelligence services and foreign ministry.”. Soltes defines this link by saying that “fundamentally, the former one spoke and taught and wrote and while the latter speaks and teaches and writes…, On Friday, US State Department spokesmen John Kirby called “troubling” the decision by Turkish authorities to seize control of the Zaman Turkey’s most circulated  newspaper. This is not the first time Gülen’s name has been linked to efforts by associates of Trump to get the cleric returned to Turkey. Fethullah Gulen was born in a small village near Turkey’s Erzurum province in 1941. In the past five years, through my involvement with the Rumi Forum of Old Dominion University, I’ve become intimately familiar with the work and faith perspective of the movement which emerged from the life…, Fethullah Gulen was born in a small village near Turkey’s Erzurum province in 1941. While this was underway, the police launched raids against businessman and Erdogan allies alleging they had bypassed international sanctions against Iran by sending gold to Tehran to buy oil and gas. 2003 – Gulen launched the Turkish Olympics, a competition of students from FETO-linked schools around the world, as a major public relations tool for the movement. » READ MORE: From January: U.S. officials discuss Turkey’s request for return of cleric Fethullah Gulen from Pennsylvania. Between the years 1992-1994, 29 schools were established by Gulen in Kazakhstan. His green card application was supported by former senior CIA official Graham E. Fuller and former US ambassador to Turkey Morton Abromowitz. Salzmann told Middle East Eye that the situation only got worse when Gülen criticized Erdogan for his handling of antigovernment protests that turned violent in 2013. To guarantee discipline in the houses, Gulen distributed a set of rules, the first of which was that obedience was expected towards Gulen personally. However, Gulen claims that he was born in the symbolic year of 1938 in which Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Turkey, died. 2007 – Gulen’s followers within the state bureaucracy manipulated the Ergenekon trials in an attempt to purge their opponents. Erdogan’s supporters blamed Gülenists within the police for carrying out the raids. Gulen instead preached all around the country again with the intention of increasing the number of his followers. He went into self-imposed exile in Saylorsville, Pa., after he was charged in 2000 with seeking the overthrow of Turkey’s then-secularist government. 1996 – Gulen had a meeting with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Istanbul to launch his campaign of ‘dialogue between faiths.’. Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen prays with followers last January at the 26-acre compound in the Pocono Mountains where he has lived in self-exiled isolation for 20 years.

Fethullah Gülen is Turkey’s most-wanted man. Izmir was to serve as Gulen’s organizational base for the next twenty years. One of those schools was the now-closed Truebright Science Academy in Philadelphia’s Olney section. Maybe they were worried that their infiltration would be uncovered. 1967 – Appointed as a preacher in the western metropolis of Izmir. He has attracted many followers who have run universities, hospitals, and a large media empire in Turkey and, in the United States, a loosely affiliated network of professional associations and charities in addition to charter schools funded by millions of taxpayer dollars, including some in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

1941 – Born in Pasinler village, Erzurum. 1957 – Began organizing religious meetings in Erzurum and nearby provinces. Qantara.de has translated… Read More, Fethullah Gulen expressed his condolences over the death of elderly brother of former Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc.… Read More, “My name is Debbie Reichmann and I am from, I currently live in Potomac, Maryland and I am… Read More. Also a writer, religious leader and a public figure living in exile in the USA.