ANALYSIS: WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE GÜLEN MOVEMENT?
Death of Fethullah Gülen, the number one enemy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Published on Monday October 21, 2024 at 6:46 p.m. | Estimated reading time: 3 min. A pro-Erdogan supporter walks over a poster depicting US-based preacher Fethullah Gülen during a rally in Istanbul’s Taksim Square on July 18, 2016, after the July 15 military coup attempt . AFP
The number one enemy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Fethullah Gülen, died in Pennsylvania on October 20, 2024, where he had been in exile since 1999. Islamic preacher, former imam, he was the founder of the global movement called the “Gülen movement ” or Hizmet (meaning “service” in Turkish), a network of people and institutions involved in education, culture and philanthropy. The latter was recognized for promoting moderate Islam which encourages interreligious dialogue, science, and education. The movement has founded numerous schools around the world, particularly in developing countries. After the death of Fethullah Gülen, what future for his movement?
The organization had significant influence in Türkiye, particularly between the 1990s and early 2010s, before being severely repressed by the Turkish government. Many agreed that Fethullah Gülen advocated a model of Islam compatible with democracy and modernity, but from year to year, its influence on Turkish society and its relations with the Turkish state have become sources of major conflicts in the country.
Since its creation in the 1970s, the brotherhood has worked primarily in the educational field. A vast network of schools, colleges and universities has been established in Turkey and internationally, particularly renowned for the quality of education, particularly in sciences and languages. Much work was being done to promote modernization, science and humanist values. In Türkiye, this movement has formed a large part of the country’s intellectual elite for decades.
Media connections and influence on politics
But that’s not all: the movement Fethullah Gülen controlled or had ties to several influential media outlets in Türkiye, including newspapers, television channels and news agencies. These media outlets served as platforms to promote the ideas of the movement, as well as ideas of interreligious dialogue and moderation of Islam. He had produced a theological corpus also aimed at businesses, the market economy and neoliberal economic policies. This group and its influence began to displease those in power.
For many, the movement would have had a strong influence in the judicial system and law enforcement in Türkiye, in particular through the encouragement of its sympathizers to integrate these institutions. Many judges, prosecutors and police officers are believed to have been supporters of the movement. During the 2000s, under the AKP (Justice and Development Party) government led by Recep Tayyip Erdoganthese people would have occupied key positions in the state apparatus, which would have allowed Fethullah Gülen and his supporters to exert a certain influence on politics and justice in Türkiye. This is why some considered “Hizmet” as a state within a state.
Rupture avec Recep Tayyip Erdogan
But in the early 2010s, the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoganwho had maintained cordial relations with the organization until then, began to see the movement as a serious competitor that could have national political demands. And in 2013, there was a break after a corruption scandal, brought to light by Gülenist magistrates, which targeted those close to Erdogan. This is where Fethullah Gülen becomes the enemy to be defeated. It was the attempted coup d’état of July 15, 2016 that marked a radical turning point in the influence of the movement in Turkey, although at the time, Fethullah Gülen always denied being the instigator. . Since then, thousands of people suspected of being part of the Gülen movement have been arrested or lost their jobs; many schools, media outlets and charities associated with the movement were also closed.
After Gülen’s death, what future for the organization? If its influence has been largely circumscribed since 2016, inside Turkey, after the repression, it continues to exist outside Europe, notably in the United States, via Central Asia or Africa , thanks to the strength of the Turkish diaspora around the world.
Sébastien Boussois
Doctor in political science, Arab world and geopolitics researcher, teacher in international relations at IHECS (Brussels), associated with Cnam Paris (Defense Security Team), at the Institute of Applied Geopolitics Studies (IEGA Paris), at Nordic Center for Conflict Transformation (NCCT Stockholm) and the Geostrategic Observatory of Geneva (Switzerland).
Your comments
Download our app
More politics articles
-
A proposal from the N-VA to stop reimbursement of non-medical circumcisions by social security
Tuesday October 22, 2024
Want to read the rest of this article? This premium article is reserved for our subscribers. Are you already a subscriber? Log in Not yet a subscriber? Subscribe to L Post…
-
Qatar’s multilateral strategy to resolve crises or heal wounds in the Middle East
Sunday October 20, 2024
We can no longer count the areas of intervention of Qatar since it sought to become an actor and mediator of regional crises. Unfortunately, if conflicts drag on and their…
-
In Gaza, Yahya Sinwar is dead but the war continues
Saturday October 19, 2024
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the main designer and organizer of the pogrom of October 7, 2023, was killed Wednesday evening in Gaza. His body was formally identified on Thursday…
-
The British Conservative Party final will be played between two candidates positioned very far to the right
Thursday October 17, 2024
At the beginning of October 2024, the Conservative Party conference took place in Birmingham, in the north of England, a week after that of the Labor Party. If Labor were still…
-
MR and Engagés open the ball for the new provincial majorities in Namur
Thursday October 17, 2024
The president of the Engagés, Maxime Prévot, and his MR counterpart at the provincial level, David Clarinval, announced this Thursday morning, October 17, 2024, their alliance to govern the Province…
