Last Updated on Monday, 26 June 2006 14:39 by Ali Halit Aslan Monday, 25 October 2004 05:00
It was the first weeks after September 11, 2001. A Turkish diplomat in Washington and I were talking about what could be done in order to fortify the friendship between our countries and to contribute to Turkey's public image during those difficult days in America.
My diplomat friend shared his bitter experience with me. Many countries then were placing ads in prominent American papers to condemn terrorism and also for condolences. My diplomat friend tore himself trying to persuade Ankara to make such a gesture. But he did not succeed. Guess what the reason for rejection was? They said they couldn't afford such ad! While Ankara was stuck in such cheap calculations, an advertisement placed by Fethullah Gulen was published in the Washington Post. Angered by this, my diplomat friend faxed the ad to Ankara along with a note which basically said: What a shame you were unable to present a vision like this person!.
Indeed, Gulen and the civil society movement, nourished by his profound vision, that makes Turkey proud, does not really miss any opportunity to leave a mark in history at the right place and at the right time. The vision that sowed the seeds of stability and brotherhood, by spreading out schools in Central Asia while the Soviet Empire was collapsing, now seems committed to another mission. And that is, building bridges between civilizations at a time when America has started to burn the whole Muslim-world-blanket to get rid of terrorist fleas. This mission is a struggle to save the honor of civilization that we belong to, whether we like it or not, while some people in America are constantly shouting out, "Why don't many people in the Muslim world speak out against terrorism?" It is also an attempt to make people say, "There are also good Muslims," and thus try to compose a symphony that will silence the cries of the magpies, which drag America from one mistake to another, with their rage and prejudices.
Fethullah Gulen's new book, "Toward a Global Civilization: Love and Tolerance" (The Light, New Jersey, 2004) is nothing but one of the latest examples of those sincere efforts. People who criticize [Palestinian President Yasser] Arafat in the U.S. maintain that what he says in English, he does not say in Arabic. That is, he talks to his people differently from the way he talks to the West. Thanks to his many books translated into foreign languages, Gulen is as if he is saying, "Look, whatever we say in Turkish, we also say in all languages in the world."
For Dr. Thomas Michel, who wrote the preface, there are two aims of this book. On one hand it is a call to Muslims "for a greater awareness that Islam teaches dialogue." On the other hand, the book is an invitation to non-Muslims to move beyond "prejudice, suspicion and half-truths," to understand what Islam is really about. Hodjaefendi's articles of love and tolerance, dated as early as 1980 and as late as 2004, confirming what's being said today, was essentially the same 25 years ago. This proves that those messages were not delivered out of concerns to charm those in Turkey during the February 28 process nor those in America during the September 11 process...
The message of love and tolerance, which comes to America from Anatolia, the land of Yunus, Mevlana, Haci Bektasi Veli, does not remain only as rhetoric. Volunteers inspired by Gulen's call, perform successful educational, cultural and dialogue activities. Just last week, the Rumi Forum in Washington D.C. and the Niagara Foundation in Chicago, brought people from different religions together at an interfaith iftar (fast-breaking) dinners.
Well, what is the Republic of Turkey doing as a state to promote this great treasure, in other words, Anatolian Islam in the United States? What are our guys doing, when even Uzbekistan is trying to turn its historical Islamic roots into a political opportunity? Ours is a secular state; so, it cannot be associated with any religion or religious groups! Could one expect something different from a narrow mentality that even hesitates calling Turkey an Islamic nation, while we are saying to the European Union, "Accept us as a member and we'll provide a bridge between Islamic and Western civilizations"?
All right, there are things a secular state cannot do. Why don't you then take groups such as the Gulen movement, already doing these things voluntarily under your wings, or at least not stand in their way? Never! While other Islamic countries try to make exaggerated promotions in Washington, saying, "The most moderate Muslims are in our countries," some in America affiliated to Turkey's oligarchic circles speak ill of the blessing in our hands, saying, "Be careful, such and such people are much more dangerous than [Osama] bin Laden." They try to raise the cracked voices in the U.S. administration, academy and think tanks. Last Wednesday at a conference in John Hopkins University, on Turkish Schools in the Central Asia, Dr. Bayram Balci drew interesting parallels between Catholic Jesuits and the Gulen movement. Both movements were born of secularist regimes (Jacobin France and Turkey), both were not officially favored in their homelands; however, their educational activities abroad were supported by their respective states. This assessment might generally be true for the educational activities in Central Asia; however, unfortunately, the bureaucratic royals in Ankara are unable to see and benefit from the strategic potential of the energetic Gulen movement, especially in the aftermath of September 11. Ankara's strategic darkened vision also blurs the views of some in the Washington administration.
The visionary leaders and movements patiently continue doing what they think is right, eventually succeeding and forgiving those who hinder them on purpose or unintentionally; however, history knows quite well how to talk about those who are so vision-impaired that they cut the branch they sit on
ZAMAN
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