What If People Like Gulen Did Not Exist?

Last Updated on Tuesday, 11 December 2007 04:39 by Ilnur Cevik, The New Anatolian Tuesday, 11 December 2007 04:28

On Sunday we witnessed a tense debate in Parliament where the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) attacked moderate Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen during the debate of the Education Ministry.

CHP spokesperson Fatma Nur Serter, a deputy, criticized Education Minister Huseyin Celik for praising Gulen and also drew attention to the danger of young people falling into the trap of Islamists and finding shelter at the Isikevleri, dormitories run by Gulen's people.

The CHP spokesperson tried to draw a picture where Islamists are trying to conquer the establishments of the secular republic and that they have concentrated their efforts on the education system.

What we have seen in the Parliament is just a small example of the very tense debates we will be witnessing soon when President Abdulah Gul tries to appoint a new president for the Higher Education Council (YOK).

The issue will be explosive. YOK President Prof. Erdogan Tezic, who has been leading the secularist front in Turkey and has been fighting against the government in every possible field. He has tried to block government moves in every possible way.

His replacement will obviously be Gul's choice which will definitely anger the secularists and create new tensions.

After that we will have the debate on the new constitution which will again fuel the claims that the government is trying to change the secularist values of the Republic and create a Islamic system.

What the secularist establishment in Turkey does not understand is that it is people like moderate Fethullah Gulen and his followers who are the antidote for the religious extremists.

Gulen's schools and dormitories are not a threat to secularism. On the contrary if they do not exist and our young generation falls into the hands of the extremists then we will witness a real threat to our system.

It is no coincidence that moderate Islamists in Turkey have been the target of extremists like the Hizbollah terrorists.

The value of what Gulen has done for this country has not been appreciated by many people. If Minister Celik has acknowledged this and has praised Gulen, that deserves praise.

Gulen is educating 140,000 poor children in southeastern Turkey who cannot afford proper schooling. If he hadn't done this those children would be potential PKK volunteers by now.

Our military leaders who ousted the Erbakan government in 1997 ruined our education system and prevented our children from learning moral values. That is why we suffer some social problems today.

All Gulen has done to try to raise a new generation of youths who uphold science as their banner and learn moral values. Is this a crime?

It is a great pity that because of the extremists of Turkey, Gulen still has to live in the United States and cannot return home. Just think what would have happened to Turkey if people like Gulen did not exist?