Fethullah Gülen’s Mission Organization Divided

By Dr Aland Mizell:

Fethullah Gülen

Fethullah Gülen

Men create ideologies, and when a man dies, his ideology dies with him. Men create systems, and when a man dies, his system dies with him. For example, Fascism in Italy, Communism in the Soviet Union, and Nazism in Germany have all perished and disappeared except for a few residual elements. The only thing left behind from these man-made systems is the destruction of many human lives. Man-made religions last as long as the originator lives, but when the man dies, his religion dies with him. When Fethullah Gülen set up his organization, he really believed Allah had appointed him to be the savior of the world. That is, he constantly claims that he and his followers are the chosen ones and that Allah assigned them to rule Turkey and the world as the “Golden Generation.“ They believe they are the third way and an alternative to a new world system after the collapse of Communism and capitalism. That is why they are extolling Gülen and spreading his way of Islam.

The biggest fraud of the 21st century is Gulenism. To gain power, Gülenism has drugged his people with his contrived tears, nationalistic rhetoric, and exploitive faith. Gülen and his followers have fooled Westerners by creating an image that they represent peace, love, dialogue, and justice, but in reality they do not. Gülen’s mission organization is going to be more isolated on the home front and will become more and more isolated from the Muslim community in Turkey. The genuine people who really carried the burden of the organization when it started, who gave everything to the organization, and who helped bring the organization to its status today, know Gülen very well, so that they have now left the organization. Men such as Latif Erdogan, Ahmet Keles, Kemaletin Ozdemir, Selim Corakli, and Nurettin Veren helped to create the organization and really served the people and spread Islamic values without any self-interest or expectations for a return because those people were with Gülen during his most difficult times.

So why did these people leave the organization? The answer is that Gülen is obsessed with power, and in his desperate attempt to acquire it, he has become increasingly paranoid, authoritarian, inconsistent in his logic often contradicting himself, and determined to create his own brand of Islam. The second group of people who joined Gülen’s organization includes those who collaborated because of self-interest, so that they want their business to succeed and their jobs to be secured. These individuals understand the operation and now are revealing the dirty laundry of Gülen’s mission organization. We will see that many former followers will leave Gülen, and many businesses will not associate themselves with him and his organization in the near future.

Several of Gülen’s disciples have already made declarations regarding the case, have criticized the political stance of his mission organization, and have disparaged his leadership in its lack of ability to control the organization. This is very important because so far no one has publically objected to Gülen’s ideas or his decisions, but now they are asking him to apologize to Prime Minister Erdogan and to the people of Turkey. In the past Gülen was an untouchable person in Turkey; no one dared to criticize him especially those who had been with his organization and were very close to him. I think that the Western so-called academics should listen to those who know the intricacies of his organization, and they should ask them who Gülen really is. Most of those in academia who are touting his accolades met him one time or took one trip to Turkey and subsequently declared themselves experts on Gülen and his organization, even writing articles and books about his tolerance and peace. Especially in the follow up to Gulen’s public condemnations, other religious leaders have expressed their support of Erdogan.

Gülen’s December 17th operation harmed Gülen more than it did Erdogan and his AK party, because it revealed the infiltration of Gülen and his mission organization into the judiciary, the police, and the bureaucracy. Several audio files featuring Gülen ‘s telephone conversations leaked to the web. Alleged testaments by numerous police officers of their confidential blacklists and letters from Gülen requiring submissive pledges of the followers’ allegiance to him are indicative of the movement’s influence within authorized bodies, revealing his movement’s true motives and hence damaging their image in the public eye. Gülenists do not serve Allah anymore; they are serving Gülen and becoming slave-like. In addition, they are not representing the true face of Islam for the majority of Muslims. There is no legitimacy to his claim that his organization is a servant organization. Those who have spent most of their time with Gülen do not see Gülen as a unique scholar whose knowledge and actions inspire many intellectuals, scholars and academics around the globe; yet some unfortunate people in Turkey are trying desperately to make Gulenists out as a legitimate organization whose leader was loved by millions. Now, however, millions hate him.

When Gülen set up his mission organization, he had the objective of taking over the Turkish government and the world to replace their governments with his version of an Islamic state. Gülen believes that there is no need for other versions of Islam because only his way leads to truth. Gülen wants the Turkish people to believe that his brand of Islam is true and that his way of recounting history is true, but that any other interpretation is false. In the Gülen mission organization members cannot be rational or ask questions. They must obey Gülen’s doctrine without any objections; otherwise they cannot stay in the organizations. The organization is very good at manipulating and using people to advance their cause, but when the organization is done with them, it slanders them and discredits them. For example, Selim Corakli, who spent a great deal of his life in the Gülen mission organization, was the initial Gülen missionary who went to Macedonia and opened the first branch of the Zaman newspaper there. He served in all aspects of the Gülen mission organization, remaining silent for more than fifteen years. Finally he broke the silence and spoke out about how Gülen manipulated people, his thirst for power, and his lack of transparency in revealing his true agenda. Mr. Corakli wrote a book about Gülen and his organization, ‘Gulennin Aglattigi Muslumanlar’.

Speaking on a TV program aired on A Haber, a theologian, writer and one of the Gülen’s first students, who was considered to be the heir apparent of Gülen’s mission organization after Gülen dies, Latif Erdogan made striking revelations about Gülen and his mission organization. When he was twelve or thirteen years old he became one of Gülen’s students. Mr. Erdogan served Gülen’s organization for more than forty years and authored Gülen’s biography ‘Kucuk Dunyam’. He knows everything about Gülen and his mission organization. According to Latif Erdogan, Gülen is paranoid and contradicts himself. In his view, Gülen has lost his direction and no longer has legitimate control of the organization.  Mr. Erdogan said that when he left the organization, the organization set up a plot against him, made his brother rebel against him, and attempted to get his wife to divorce and slander him, but his wife had a hundred percent trust in her husband and did not accept their motives or charges, and, consequently, she did not leave her husband.

Another person who served the Gülen mission organization for twenty-five years, Ahmet Keles, spoke about the hierarchical structures of the movement. According to Keles, he even donated his wife’s engagement ring and money from his child’s moneybox for the sake of the mission organization during its hard times, for example, when the mission organization chose to set up the television station Samanyolu TV. Furthermore, within the Gülen organization there are divisions among the main Gülen followers or students: the Latif Erdogan group, who have already left him, and the second group, the Ilhan Isbilen group; a third group is the Abudallah Aymaz and Naci Tosun group.  All of the groups are having power struggles as well.

Another of Gülen’s closest followers who left was Kemalettin Ozdemir, a friend who spent most of this time serving Gülen’s organization during the difficult time when Gülen had still not become a government inside the government but when his operations were still small. He was also the son of Said Ozdemir, a student of Said Nursi, the well-known Islamic scholar from whom Gülen derived his philosophy. He also knew all the details and secrets of Gülen and his organization.

A couple of months ago Prime Minister Erodogan claimed that he has the file in his hand, and that if he revealed the file, Turkey would shake. Nobody asked about the file and what was inside it. What was the file all about? Who gave the files to the Prime Minister?  The file that the Prime Minister is talking about was the information on Gülen and his mission organization. The person who gave the file to the Prime Minister was one of Gülen’s former students who knows all the inside workings of his conglomerate. So why is this file so important and what is inside this file?  The file is incredibly important because the names of all the imams are on the list, including their missions. They have become a government inside the government and, as such, they have divided Turkey into regions. Each region has one imam or leader, and they have divided each region into sub-regions. From time to time they have meetings during which they make decisions, but without Gülen’s permission, nothing can be implemented. That is how they steal the exam questions and distribute them, and that is where they place their people in the judiciary, police, bureaucracy, and all other institutions.  Those names are revealed in that file.  According to the Prime Minister, they have recorded conversations of the Prime Minister, the President, and thousands of other people. Questions remain. Who listened to the conversations of the President, the Prime Minister, and thousands of others?  What kind of power has the authority to do this? Why did Prime Minister Erdogan replace his entire bodyguard? One of his bodyguards who recorded his conversations was a member of Gülen’s mission organization and shared all that information with Gülen. State persecutors will file the case against Gülen for engaging in espionage, for being a traitor, and for conducting an illegal terror organization that is trying to replace a democratically elected government with an illegal one.

Gülen told his followers that, if their house is made from glass, they should not throw stones at other houses. However, Gülen made one of the gravest mistakes in his entire life by trying to throw stones at Erdogan and by cursing him publically. If Gülen would, likewise publically, ask for forgiveness from Erdogan for his mistake, he would not lose credibility among the Turkish people in Turkey, and his organization could still survive domestically and internationally because he will continue to fool the West, including the American people that he is all about love, peace, dialogue, unity, democracy, and justice. Instead, in following his ego, Gülen with his media and his mission organization has declared total war on Erdogan and his family. It was a very miscalculated move because it revealed that Gülen is not what he claims to be.

The division among the Gülen mission organization existed even before Erdogan called it a parallel state, but people were afraid to come out of their closet to tell the truth about Gulen. Erdogan helped and encouraged the people to speak out against him and his organization. In reality, we will soon learn everything about Gülen and his organization, particularly that it is illegal, corrupt, and shaped by manipulation. For example, Gülen received a diplomatic passport when he initially left Turkey to go to the United States, but he is not a diplomat; instead he is a just retired imam, and a retired imam cannot get diplomatic access because an ordinary citizen cannot have diplomatic status. Soon we will see more examples of this kind of corruption and cases of his organization being clandestinely involved in his schools, business organizations, media, newspapers, sports clubs, and government institutions.

Muslims are their own worst enemies. It is the Muslims who have allowed what is happening to them. But it is interesting that Islam prohibits such divisions among Muslims. Muslims will preach about solidarity, cooperation, dialogue, unity, and standing by one another declaring that these are important and basic elements for constructing a sound united Islamic society. But most Muslims around the world somehow clash with one another.

The problem with Muslim leaders in general, including Gülen himself, is that what they preach, they do not practice, and most of the time they actually contradict themselves. For example, Prime Minister Erdogan and his AK party also are devoted Muslims. They all believe in a monotheistic Allah with Mohammad as his prophet; they believe in the Quran as the book of Allah. The conservative Muslims that Erdogan embraces pray five times a day, go on the pilgrimage, serve people with their alms, and believe in the Ottoman Empire. So on what principles are Gülen and Erdogan fighting? Erdogan and Gülen and his mission organization are battling against each other in the name of Allah; the reason is clear.  If we look at the conflicts among them, we will clearly see that Gülen wanted to unite and rule Muslims based upon his own principles and beliefs. Gülen is trying to set up an Islamic utopian society and is struggling for control and power in order to implement his own utopian beliefs and policies. Gülen is using every available means to legitimately accomplish his goals, holding to the principle that the end justifies the means. Gülen himself talks about unity, justice, dialogue, peace, and the like, but he wants unity, love, peace, justice, and even democracy based upon his own conditions; however, most of the time he contradicts himself with his own preaching.

The Gülen organization even tried to simplify the books written by Said Kurdi, The Flashes. Gülen also has given fetva for his followers to lie, if it is necessary under the “tedbir,” an injunction to be cautious. In his writing Gülen says, “You have to know the truth, but you cannot tell the truth anywhere and everywhere.”

Furthermore, Gülen even justifies his mission organization’s exception clause that girls should not wear headscarves if it is necessary because non-Muslims will not be friendly toward them, and therefore they cannot tell them about the Islam. However, in Islam, wearing a headscarf is an imperative for women. The students of Bediuzzaman Saidi Kurdi –Mustafa Sungur, Husnu Bayram, Abdullah Yegin, Said Ozdemir, Ahmet Aytimur, Salih Ozcan, Abdulkadir Badili and Mehmet Firinci — have signed a press release condemning the changing of the book of Saidi Kurdi. They all agreed that Gülen is trying to monopolize the religion. Once millions loved Gülen, but now millions hate him, a shift that poses the enduring question to the world of why people cross the line, but a question that in this case has a clear answer.

Dr. Aland Mizell: You may email the author at: aland_mizell2@hotmail.com 

6 Responses to Fethullah Gülen’s Mission Organization Divided
  1. Matt
    April 14, 2014 | 01:34

    Gulen hates Kurds and Kurds should not follow him . He is coward and hiding in the USA.

  2. David
    April 15, 2014 | 04:13

    he President of Dicle University Ayşegül Jale Saraç, who made headlines when she became the first university president to wear the hijab, is facing an investigation over her alleged ties to the controversial Gülen Movement. Specifically, Saraç is accused of extorting money from academics for the movement. (Daily Sabah) it is end of Gulen and his cult. He cant fool people . I hope kurds will see , Gulen is not Kurds friend but enemy. Kurds should stand with Erdogan to get rid of Gulen fraud .

  3. Kuvan Bamarny
    April 15, 2014 | 12:20

    The answer to the question as to why people cross the line is EGO…It is ego that drives people to cross lines ,standards and conditions to the prevaileness of love peace and security in the world.It is ego that destroy all the values that benefits human beings.Now the question is which idiological school approve and practice the philosophy of egotism and which idological school disapprove it and practice the opposite?

    • David
      April 15, 2014 | 14:27

      Kuvan Bamarny: you are right on target. Gulen has one big ego and going to destroy him soon

  4. Anne
    April 18, 2014 | 06:50

    Well written article. I hope not only people in Turkey but those people in other countries where this movement opens school can be aware of how outrageous these people are. They never give out any good things to people or community. they just manipulate people and use people for their own purposes.

  5. MN
    May 23, 2014 | 19:12

    1.most of what you have written are lies.
    2.you don’t have the right to criticize him. Do something great as he has done and prove he is wrong.
    3.you people still believe politicians??? All politicians are liars, and yes all no exception.
    4.you think the westerners are so fool that you saw Gulen’s fraud but the whole west didn’t??
    5. People leaving an organization and joining another doesn’t prove anything, lots of people left AKP, but that doesn’t prove anything.
    6.he didn’t curse Erdoğan, he cursed the wrong one between the two sides, its a Holy Quran method , read Aali-emran 61.

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