[ Meral ]Fear! The fear of becoming involved with a terrorist group…
This fear exists. Just imagine, people believed in what seemed to be a very good thing
They supported it financially 0:01:08.894 00:01:17.455 [ VO ]Ankara has called the Hizmet movement a ‘terrorist group’ and accuses its leader, Fethullah Gulen, of plotting the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey. 00:01:25.977 00:01:33.297 There was a time when Gulen had millions of supporters in Turkey, now, officially, he has none, but who really knows? 00:01:36.508 00:01:47.228 Gulenists operate legally in Germany, but declined to be interviewed. The Preacher, Fethullah Gulen, developed a new way to look at business in Muslim life. And in return, 00:01:47.228 00:01:56.946 Turkish entrepreneurs have supported the Gulen movement for decades. What remains of those views and of that business model now? 00:02:03.062 00:02:05.022 [ VO ]In Turkish, ‘gulen’ means ‘smiling’.
I've never seen him smile. His eyes are always tear-swollen 00:02:13.978 00:02:15.618 I guess a grandfatherly smile.
I haven't seen him smile, but if he did,
it means something great happened in the world
This is the smile of a desperate man 00:02:40.787 00:02:46.987 [ VO ]Meral Sahin owns a home décor store in Cologne. She’s recently learned of a list circulating amongst local German 00:02:46.987 00:02:51.718 Turks containing the names of business people who support Gulen’s Hizmet movement and her name is on it.
[ Meral ]Every other Turk in Germany supported them
Of course, even non-believers
Everyone thought they were supporting education
So, naturally, they supported them
It doesn't have to be the state, anyone could accuse me and I'd be put on this list
That's what scares people
They don't know how to handle it
They'll be in the same boat as those who are called traitors in their homeland 00:03:32.127 00:03:38.728 [ VO ]Ask around Keupstrasse and it soon becomes clear that everyone has heard of Gulen or had contact with his movement. 00:03:41.132 00:03:46.892 Every local has a story to tell about Hizmet – if of course, they aren’t too scared to share it.
[ Mohamed ]We'd get invitations to their rallies all the time
For example, when they opened a new school
It was publicised everywhere,
in the media, on TV…
Many older women watched those channels,
including my mum
People watched and said: 'They're doing such great things!' 00:04:17.019 00:04:26.019 [ VO ]The financial support Gulen received at home was once as big as it is among German Turks. Small and medium businesses are the bedrock of the Turkish economy. 00:04:31.736 00:04:41.696 In the 1970s, the imam, Fethullah Gulen lived in Izmir, and, with tears in his eyes, undertook to defend local entrepreneurs suffering under an extortion racket: 00:04:41.696 00:04:55.025 he encouraged them to defy lawlessness and contact the police. After hearing the passionate young imam, local entrepreneurs embraced his ideas and opened the first Gulen school.
[ Man ]He didn't act like a commander, but he wasn't all smiles either
Religion added to his gravitas
Folks were eager to please him, they didn't have to be ordered 0:05:08.945 00:05:15.385 [ VO ]But support for Gulen’s endeavours became truly massive when Turkish Prime Minister, Turgut Ozal implemented economic reforms. 00:05:18.539 00:05:42.578 [ Hakan ]Gulen’s interpretation of Islam has always been market-friendly. And I call this a protestant Islam. That the market, making money, being successful became somewhat a religious quality for the Gulen movement. 00:05:42.578 00:06:01.578 And what Gulen… Did Gulen reinterpret Koran, or found a verse in Koran to justify Ozal’seconomic capitalist policies? With Ozal’s economic reforms, he also became very pro-capitalist. 00:06:02.462 00:06:13.902 The market economy for him became a space for jihad, jihad should be carried out in the bazaar, in the market, not in politics or other areas. 00:06:17.311 00:06:24.110 [ VO ]In 1988, this Turkish entrepreneur took Gulen’s ideas to heart and also opened a private school.
[ Man ]We founded a school with grades 1 to 8,
and established a lyceum
We also had two pre-school courses and four dormitories for the students
It cost us, at today's rate, about 7-8 million dollars 00:06:53.314 00:07:02.714 [ VO ]Gulen’s Hizmet movement assisted by providing his schools with teachers. His students consistently won city science competitions in all disciplines. 00:07:04.441 00:07:10.842 The entrepreneur would speak to the children about the great Gulen, or Hocaefendi, the Teacher.
[ Man ]We were free to work the way we wanted
However, generally, it was all built around the Hocaefendi's teachings
What Hizmet supporters did, what we all did,
was to give children a chance, especially those from low-income families,
to get a quality education and create an educated generation 00:07:35.609 00:07:49.970 [ VO ]Entrepreneur Teyfik Ozcan has long lived in Frankfurt, Germany. His encounter with Hizmet was much later, in the early 2000s. By that time, the movement had changed a great deal; it had become bigger and pushier.
[ Teyfik ]This organisation has its own particular methods
It seeks to recruit supporters among successful entrepreneurs
Above all, they must be leading businessmen of Turkish origin
who have very good assets 00:08:16.139 00:08:27.859 [ VO ]Turks make up the largest immigrant community in Germany. The link between this Turkish born religious movement and German entrepreneurs of Turkish origin has not gone unnoticed by local migration researchers.
[ Ursula ]I think Gulen's and Hizmet's activities in Germany are funded mainly by sponsors
That's how it's been for ages
There are many medium-sized businesses that are owned by Turkish immigrants
Maybe, there aren't so many large companies
However, owners of medium-sized companies
don't usually support their local mosque communities
They give their support to Hizmet 00:09:13.175 00:09:22.334 [ VO ]Gulenists had particularly strong connections within the Turkish authorities; Ozcan liked their focus on patriotism and religion. 00:09:22.334 00:09:37.785 The leader’s name wasn’t mentioned but he was approached by people from the Turkish media who spoke of investing in commercials and movies intended to boost Turkey’s influence in the world. Ozcan was on the fence.
[ Teyfik ]One day, they came and said they planned to build a school in an African country
I don't remember which one
They were ready to give this school my name if I sponsored the construction
And when we flew there to open it, the country's prime minister might even attend
They said it would be a chance for me to rise in prominence
and asked if I was prepared to do it 00:10:15.342 00:10:30.342 [ VO ]Ozcan refused, but the visitors kept coming to his office. Gradually, their offers started to look more and more like pressure. The last to visit was a young man from Hizmet who suggested building a school in Germany.
[ Teyfik ]He told me they'd bought another school in the nearby town of Hanau,
and that I was on their list, and that I had to pay 2,000 euros
I said that I had never agreed to that
I had never signed any documents, and I wasn't going to pay 00:10:53.747 00:11:10.308 [ VO ]It seems that the Gulenists failed to explain their school business model to Ozcan. But it was the same model all over the world, that’s according to David Shinn, a former US ambassador who has looked into Hizmet activity in Africa. 00:11:13.907 00:11:29.867 [ David ]The persons who supported the schools had, in effect, automatic contacts with members of the African business community whose children attended the schools, or members of African governments who attended the schools. 00:11:32.544 00:11:42.744 So, it was, in effect, a business model, but it was a business model with a difference in that it reflected the values and the philosophy of Fethullah Gulen. 00:11:42.744 00:11:49.706 And that was a philosophy that was imparted in the schools, at least indirectly. 00:11:50.992 00:12:02.352 [ VO ]Gulenist entrepreneurs formed regional associations in Turkey, and in 2005, founded a Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (known by the acronym, TUSKON). 00:12:02.352 00:12:16.159 It was an up-and-coming business community that brought more than 100,000 people together. Tuskon had offices in Washington DC, Brussels, Beijing and Moscow, it helped Turkish companies to invest abroad. 00:12:17.400 00:12:28.280 Asya, a bank founded by Gulenists, had grown to become one of the largest in Turkey. Hizmet businesses were growing in strength at home and expanding their influence all over the world.
[ Kadur ]It's an established movement with business support
Businessmen come to a country to start up companies
and then they build and open educational centres
So, business nurtures education 0:12:56.007 00:13:06.287 [ VO ]It’s extremely difficult to look inside Hizmet’s structure. Hakan Yavuz has met with Fethullah Gulen several times and interviewed many of his supporters. 00:13:11.924 00:13:29.165 [ Hakan ]The movement has three circles. You have on the top or in the middle, the Hocaefendi, Fethullah Gulen. And then around him you have the first circle, they’re also in Turkish called abis, or abilar 00:13:29.165 00:13:49.467 And then, in the second circle, you have the activists or the gulenists. They are usually teachers or they organize soup kitchens, or they are in the business activities in the name of the movement. 00:13:49.467 00:14:08.707 They are called imams. Imam in the police force, imam in the ministry of education, imam in the ministry of defence, imam in the universities, so you had… And under these imams you had sympathizers. 00:14:08.707 00:14:19.081 [ VO ]Hizmet is not just a religious movement. It’s a transnational corporation with a highly structured management system, from its long-time chairman to junior managers, 00:14:19.081 00:14:22.244 they know how to nurture professionals and how to rotate them. 00:14:26.588 00:14:37.220 Hasan Aygun was a Hizmet manager who worked in Kazakhstan for eight years, and in Nigeria for seven, his job was to open Gulen schools and coordinate their activities.
[ Hakan ]In Nigeria, there was a board with four or five members
who made decisions regarding local activities
Whenever the board wasn't able to implement some decision, they'd ask for help
They were assisted by people living in Turkey
who had joined Hizmet earlier than anyone else
These people always came up with good advice
In cases like these, the board either approached them or the local authorities 00:15:18.255 00:15:27.134 [ VO ]The Press reported that Gulenists regularly had to gave up to 10% of their income to the movement. Hasan Aygun doesn’t think of it as a membership fee, 00:15:27.134 00:15:42.021 more of a donation with no specific rate or schedule in mind. Aygun can recall some individual payments of as much as half a million US dollars. Contributing to Hizmet’s coffers was every Gulen supporter’s duty.
[ Hakan ]The first aspect is a religious one
For example, the Koran commands Muslims to slaughter cattle
and give the meat to the poor, whatever their creed
So, investing in building a new school where people can get an education
is seen as a good deed
The religion of those who attend the school doesn't matter
Then there's the 'small world' factor
If there's an earthquake or terrorist attack,
we all lament the loss of life as fellow human beings
So, those who believe that quality education is key to preventing terrorism
must support education 00:16:42.065 00:16:53.464 [ VO ]According to Aygun, Hizmet doesn’t coordinate work in Gulen schools. Despite a clear organisational structure, that systematic approach turns out to be a systematic error. 00:17:01.995 00:17:14.541 [ David ]If they simply had a list of all of their Gulen affiliated schools around the world, and published the list. That would be an example of transparency. 00:17:14.541 00:17:25.223 Now, when I would ask whether there was such a list, I was assured it doesn’t exist, because they don’t know how many schools there are everywhere in the world. 00:17:25.223 00:17:37.391 Because they’re not transparent, in the way they deal with themselves, and they talk about themselves, it’s very easy for outsiders to conclude that there must be a hidden agenda, 00:17:37.391 00:17:46.798 because they’re not transparent. So, I see the problem, and I don’t think that Hizmet ever really grappled with this issue effectively. 00:17:46.798 00:17:58.798 [ VO ]But Hizmet consists of more than just schools. The Education centres, or Houses of Light, where the movement was born in the 1960s, still exist. 00:17:58.914 00:18:05.156 Houses of Light are where Gulen supporters discuss their entrepreneurial plans based on a specific business concept.
[ Ralph ]Gulen's movement is a huge economic enterprise
with a turnover of several billion dollars
per year
They have schools that generate a lot of income, and universities that bring in money too
Extracurricular clubs are not free of charge either and, in Turkey, there were thousands
These also bring in a lot of money
That's how the Houses of Light work:
'This man's on our side and needs our help'
That's the advantage of being in the movement
A movement supporter would be chosen over others
for a job, investment, or material things 00:19:05.685 00:19:12.203 [ VO ]Joining Hizmet had benefited people who didn’t share Gulen’s views but Teyfik Ozcan still kept his distance.
[ Teyfik ]They were very well organised, you don't see a structure like that too often
They had a strict hierarchy
Their minders were everywhere, so-called 'abi',
who were well-respected people
and enforcers of a party line that everyone had to toe
No one could defy them
At that time, I had a contact who worked as a distributor for the Zaman newspaper
At some point, we had a telephone conversation
He told me that his abi said he shouldn't work there full-time, but freelance instead
I asked him what he thought and he said: 'That was the abi's decision, I have to comply' 00:20:13.604 00:20:16.804 [ VO ]That’s very similar to what we’ve already heard in Russia, in Kazan.
[ Said ]Without Jamaat you're nothing, you have to do what they say 00:20:23.213 00:20:33.253 [ VO ]What would happen to someone who defied an ‘abi’ curator? In 2012, the German weekly magazine, Der Spiegel published a story examining just that question. 00:20:34.132 00:20:40.093 The Hizmet movement was portrayed as a tight-knit brainwashing community that punishes apostates. 00:20:44.015 00:20:49.975 That came as a shock, both to many Gulen sympathising Turks and Germans who were committed to intercultural dialogue. 00:20:49.975 00:20:59.139 It turned out that many organisations owned by German Turks belonged to the Gulen movement but weren’t advertised as such. 00:21:00.703 00:21:08.725 Wolfgang Gerstenhofer worked for one of those companies in public relations. He knew nothing of Hizmet, but had heard of the name Gulen. 00:21:11.652 00:21:19.932 Gerstenhofer suggested discussing the notorious article, but most of his Turkish colleagues were vehemently opposed to any such conversation.
[ Wolfgang ]I started getting this feeling when we were discussing the article in Der Spiegel
It seemed increasingly that there were certain topics, certain areas,
that were kept under wraps
So, if you were to compare this community to a painting or a picture,
I felt that I was only allowed to glimpse fragments of it
This was something I didn't like at all
I wanted to see the whole picture so that I could make a decision
regarding what to do, and what we could show the general public 00:22:07.189 00:22:09.189 [ VO ]Gerstenhofer worked there for another three months.
[ Wolfgang ]At some point, we had another conversation about the sponsors,
and the financiers, whose names they either didn't want to disclose or had no right to
And that was the moment I said, no…
If there's no way of knowing who's pulling the strings
or what the motives behind all this are,
I don't want to see my name attached to it 00:22:46.320 00:22:54.799 [ VO ]Gerstenhofer hadn’t supported Hizmet in any way and didn’t go to the Houses of Light; he wasn’t ‘one of them’, so, they let him go. 00:23:00.199 00:23:08.998 One genuine Hizmet supporter, a German Turk, who, after 30 years decided to sever ties with the movement, found himself in a very different situation.
[ Man ]They called me from Offenbach and said:
'Your tongue's too long…
we'll trim it a little!' 00:23:28.604 00:23:36.484 [ VO ]Offenbach is a suburb of Frankfurt in Germany, where many influential Hizmet supporters live. This businessman used to meet with Gulen 00:23:36.484 00:23:47.208 back in the 1980s when he still lived in Izmir, Turkey. After that, they met in Germany and again in the US. He became disillusioned in July 2016
[ Man ]I paid my dues to the movement for 30 years
I supported it both materially and morally
It upset me when I understood what had happened, where they'd led the people
I regretted wasting those 30 years
There were periods I had to stay at home for days
But why? What did I do? 00:24:16.898 00:24:28.179 [ VO ]Teyfik Ozcan is driving around Offenbach, European’s Hizmet capital. It was from here that the apostate businessman received a phone call and it was to here that Ozcan was invited.
[ Teyfik ]There were times when you couldn't find a parking spot here
That's where the print house was
The TV studio was over there
The offices including the editorial department, were upstairs 00:24:50.169 00:25:02.061 [ VO ]The wall is still bears a mark from where the sign used to be. Samanyolu, meaning Milky Way, was an international Turkish language TV station. The building is vacant now, it’s rumoured to have been sold to pay off debts. 00:25:06.064 00:25:11.904 [ David ]I had had very close connections with a number of organisations in Turkey. These organisations are all shut-down, they’re gone. 00:25:15.262 00:25:28.021 [ VO ]Der Spiegel’s accusations did harm the Gulen movement’s public image but his media empire still had a lot of influence. Anyone who looked at Hizmet, didn’t see Houses of Light or even a business model, they saw schools. 00:25:28.021 00:25:39.815 A new investigation would expose the inner workings of those schools. It was carried out in the United States, the very country in which our protagonist has lived for so long.