[ Ahmet ]FETO ordered our conviction
They were supported by the Turkish and US political establishment, just as they'd hoped
For outside forces, it's easier to run the country
and dictate terms when the Army is weak 00:01:49.373 00:01:59.893 [ VO ]In the 21st century, Gulen has been a force outside of Turkey, because he now lives in the US. But and an internal force with millions of Turks who are still loyal supporters. 00:02:01.576 00:02:14.616 A Preacher and spiritual leader certainly, but Gulen was also a politician, one of the most prominent in the country, but one who never took part in elections. How was that possible and how did it end? 00:02:22.181 00:02:28.342 [ VO ]Gulen, it means smile. His smile of humanity, I can say it.
An artificial smile 00:02:32.106 00:02:40.614 Under prosecution all his relatives, all his followers. It's very difficult for him to smile but he tries to smile sometimes.
The man who made our people cry wouldn't be allowed to smile by Allah 00:02:46.938 00:02:54.657 No more smile. More anger, more revenge. And it's very sad what happened 00:03:01.707 00:03:11.307 [ VO ]Since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the Republic of Turkey, its army has been the defender of secular values and has had to act as such numerous times. 00:03:12.869 00:03:23.190 22 years after Ataturk’s death, after the government relaxed antireligious laws and opened many new mosques the military assumed control, executed three ministers 00:03:23.190 00:03:37.392 and launched a sweeping purge of the army and government. In 1960 the young imam Gulen was 19 and unaffected by the coup, but there’s no doubt that it did influence him. 00:03:42.886 00:03:58.007 [ Hakan ]Personal story of Gulen very much I would say a microhistory of evolution and transformation of Turkey. By looking at Gulen’s life, 00:03:58.007 00:04:08.222 his evolution, we can have a very good idea how Turkey evolved and changed from 1950s to today. 00:04:12.265 00:04:26.026 [ VO ]When in 1971, the military intervened politically once again, the 30-year-old imam Gulen was tried for, 'establishing a secret religious association and attempting to change the secular nature of the Republic of Turkey'. Chapter 18 00:04:28.032 00:04:33.993 He spent seven months in prison, a time that would give rise the duality that now characterises Gulen: 00:04:33.993 00:04:42.138 The conflicting desires for dialogue and secrecy, tolerance and rigorous discipline, global thinking and nationalism.
[ Emil ]It's a Machiavellian smile
And you never know if he's sneering or smiling sadly 0:04:52.148 00:05:00.027 [ VO ]There was yet another military coup in 1980, and Gulen, now 39, was again charged with starting a secret religious organisation. 00:05:00.027 00:05:12.475 Gulen went underground for three years but liberal reforms in the 1980s allowed him to become legal. His Hizmet movement was gaining ground and 00:05:12.475 00:05:23.126 becoming an increasingly influential force in the country. That’s when Gulen the politician was born, even though very few were aware of it at the time. 00:05:31.065 00:05:44.905 [ hakan ]Turkish-Islamic synthesis became a dominant state doctrine in a way. And that attempt to open the door for Islam helped Gulen. 00:05:49.943 00:06:03.463 [ VO ]Islamists won the Turkish elections in 1997. The military responded by forcing the new government to resign and banning the winning party on the grounds that it violated the principle of keeping religion and state well 00:06:03.463 00:06:13.434 apart. Now 56-years-old, Gulen echoes the military line: 'Islam and politics don’t mix' but not everyone believes him. 00:06:14.637 00:06:22.677 A TV network aired a previously unknown speech by Gulen. This candid recording was copied onto thousands 00:06:22.677 00:06:30.640 of low-quality VHS video cassettes, translated into different languages and became the preacher’s most quoted sermon.
[ Gulen ]All steps that you take until you find your essence, reach maturity,
and have the power to take the world on your shoulders and carry it,
until you take hold of things that represent power,
and until you capture the power at all constitutional institutions in Turkey's state structure,
are too early to take
Each such step is like breaking an egg before 20 days, like a nest leaving chicks prone to hail and storm 00:07:18.091 00:07:25.170 [ VO ]Gulen always had a reputation for convoluted speeches and verbose similes. His declarations about 'taking hold of things' and ' 00:07:25.170 00:07:32.431 the power of constitutional institutions' seemed surprisingly straightforward but his opponents immediately made good use of the recording. 00:07:33.196 00:07:44.516 Meanwhile, Gulen media actively started defending the preacher. As that media war raged around him, for the third time in his life, Gulen was again charged with starting an underground religious organisation.
[ Man ]Religion added to his gravitas
Folks were eager to please him, they didn't have to be ordered 00:07:57.011 00:08:06.812 [ VO ]Gulen defected to the US but he still had millions of supporters in Turkey where Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party won the presidential election. 00:08:17.171 00:08:27.892 Erdogan and Gulen go way back. In the 1990s, they attended many public events together, like the wedding of Hakan Sukur, an incredibly popular football player. 00:08:28.940 00:08:40.021 At the time, Erdogan was the mayor of Istanbul, the country’s ‘biggest city, but the guests and journalists only had eyes for Gulen, who held no formal office of any kind. 00:08:41.205 00:08:48.645 Gulen had the seat of honour next to the newlyweds and was addressed respectfully as 'hocaefendi' meaning, 'Lord Teacher'.
Hocaefendi Fethullah Gulen, bless this marriage!
I bless this marriage 00:09:06.348 00:09:19.308 [ VO ]In a secular country like Turkey, two advocates of greater influence for Islam, such as Erdogan and Gulen, were naturally drawn together. The early 2000s was the time of their political alliance.
[ Amur ]In 2002, when Erdogan came to power,
he saw Fethullah Gulen as one of his most important allies, a major one
Why? Because by that time Gulen had already created
an extensive network and support base 00:09:41.158 00:09:51.518 [ VO ]That Base was Gulen’s golden generation, graduates of the Hizmet educational system were everywhere – in schools, ministries, even the police and army. 00:09:53.056 00:10:03.296 This remarkable setup, with millions of supporters and a leader who lived abroad, had operated for quite some time. Gulen had often been invited to return, 00:10:03.296 00:10:12.436 Erdogan had even asked him personally but the Hizmet leader declined on the grounds of ill health and continued as the 'Pennsylvania hermit.' 00:10:13.686 00:10:25.926 [ Hakan ]Many Turkish politicians came to United States to meet with him, to be photographed with him, so they could exploit the pictures and meetings in Turkey as political capital. 00:10:25.926 00:10:43.495 Gulen is not isolated, he has always been part of social, economic and political life. He’s a religious leader, but his notion of religion is that religion is not confined to a mosque, 00:10:43.495 00:10:52.112 church or synagogue. He believes religious people have a role to play in economic, social and political life. 00:10:54.315 00:11:08.794 [ VO ]The key to that political role is Gulen’s media conglomerate, the second-largest in Turkey it incorporated two newspapers, six TV channels, two radio stations, a news agency, magazines and publishing companies.
[ Amur ]He was at the peak of his influence in Turkey in 2009
He was in a position to dictate to certain people close to Erdogan:
he told them who to hire to work for the state and so on 00:11:36.261 00:11:48.221 [ VO ]In 2010, that alliance started to show signs of a rift: Erdogan supported the Freedom Flotilla, six ships trying to break through Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip while Gulen 00:11:48.221 00:12:04.229 criticized what the vessels were doing. In the summer of 2013, Erdogan quelled anti-government protests and Gulen spoke out against the move. Disagreement was growing. 00:12:06.838 00:12:25.598 [ Yakan ]It moved from a movement that centered on piety and morality, it became a movement of seeking power and control. I think the shift… but the shift was also pushed by both Turkish politicians 00:12:25.598 00:12:38.775 and external actors outside the country to Gulen to play more social and political role. I think that shift destroyed the inner message of the Gulen movement. 00:12:41.074 00:12:51.754 Self-advancement had also become a reason to join Hizmet, which still hadn’t come out as a party or official movement, but it clearly had a massive following.
[ Viktor ]High school graduates stuck together and stayed friends all their lives 00:13:04.737 00:13:15.457 [ VO ]Some observers believed that high-ranked officials from Gulen’s ‘Golden Generation’ intended to change the Turkish system of government and make the country abandon the ‘secular state’ principle. 00:13:17.821 00:13:27.380 There were those who viewed the informal ties between gulenists and their sympathisers inside state agencies, especially the army and police – as a 'parallel state' in Turkey.
[ Amur ]Let's say, a major or a colonel had one role within Hizmet,
and a general had a completely different one
If you think about it, a general and a colonel, there's a clear chain of command
You know who's under whose orders
However, in the Hizmet structure
it could happen that a general was subordinate to a colonel 00:14:00.321 00:14:11.880 [ VO ]In 2013, the pro-Gulen police initiated a high-profile investigation involving several ministers. The media presumed that the case would not be limited to ordinary ministers. 00:14:11.880 00:14:20.636 Soon a few hundred police officers were fired. Gulen and Erdogan, once allies, now declared war on each other.
[ Gulen ]I feel very homesick, I'm ready to die 50 times even for a tiny piece of my homeland
I have never condemned to hell the advocates of brute force,
who are the reason I'm forced to live where I live,
nor those who encourage them, nor their messengers in the media
I've never wanted them dead or to suffer eternal damnation 00:14:47.113 00:15:01.673 [ VO ]That reference to 'eternal suffering in hell' reflects Gulen’s past as a preacher. This is no moral or religious conflict; it’s a political one because he no longer had any common interests with the ruling party in Ankara.
[ Ibrahim ]Damn them! They're why Turkey's in such a mess now
They got into bed with the ruling Justice and Development Party,
and damaged the country with their internal conflicts 00:15:15.823 00:15:33.783 [ Ilber ]For a while I think the government had no sense of what’s going and happening. And later, I mean, they started with their exaggerated demands, and policy-makings. 00:15:33.783 00:15:51.035 So therefore there occurred a kind of conflict between government and ruling party and politicians, and the FETO people. And the coup-d’etat was the last phase of that.
[ Fuad ]Gulen is merely a tool of the United States
A very powerful tool!
It's been in development for years,
at schools where the Turkish military and General Staff studied
So, this tool was used, albeit unsuccessfully, by the United States and directly by the CIA 00:16:39.043 00:16:48.362 [ Hakan ]The coup took place just a month before the decision to cleanse the gulenists from the military. So, there are enough motives 00:16:48.362 00:17:02.175 on the side of the gulenists to lead and engage this coup. This coup was the last bullet they used against Erdogan, and they failed. 00:17:02.175 00:17:11.912 [ VO ]But no matter what is said about Gulen and his supporters now, no matter how hard people try to prove that the coup leaders acted alone or, 00:17:11.912 00:17:21.999 that they had links to outside forces, irrespective of whether they’re called Hizmet or FETO, one fact is clear; the movement will never be the same again. 00:17:24.412 00:17:32.716 More than 150,000 people were arrested in the two years following the failed coup and another 130,000 or more lost their jobs. 00:17:32.716 00:17:43.940 Hizmet’s private schools and universities were shut down or taken over by new owners. 1,500 NGOs were dissolved. Many business associations, 00:17:43.940 00:17:54.278 banks, newspapers, TV channels, radio stations and publishing houses all vanished. Gulen’s first ever magazine, Sizinti, was also closed. 00:17:55.756 00:18:03.957 The cover of the issue immediately preceding the attempted coup carried an alleged clue: a man in a khaki jacket opens the door to a brighter future.
[ Celal ]We're all on our guard
We're all being vigilant:
public authorities, associated institutions, schools... all of us!
No one is going to allow our enemies to break Turkey's unity 00:18:34.116 00:18:47.075 [ VO ]Hizmet’s demise at home had consequences throughout the world. The movement born in Turkey half a century ago and which went global after the Cold War is in grave crisis today.
[ Mars ]There's a liberal touch to Gulen's Islam
It's an updated version in a way
This type of Islam was supposed to go through Central Asia like a knife through butter,
to prevail in Central Asia
But attempts to westernise and somewhat liberalise Central Asia failed
The US is losing clout. It seems they can't instill European values in Asia 00:19:17.954 00:19:25.754 [ VO ]Turkish diplomats are trying to close Gulen institutions all over the world. Schools in Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian countries 00:19:25.754 00:19:33.486 changed their names and founders. The number of students enrolling at German schools is diminishing. 00:19:47.010 00:19:50.691 [ VO ]Many African countries shut down all Gulen schools within their borders. 00:19:54.770 00:20:07.169 [ Ayhan ]When you look at those countries where Hizmet schools are shut down, there are a couple of issues that you see. First of all, these countries are economically not very strong countries 00:20:07.169 00:20:18.182 Secondly, these countries are predominantly Muslim population countries. And thirdly, politically, these countries are not very strong. 00:20:25.719 00:20:36.119 [ VO ]Funding for Gulen projects has fallen significantly around the world. We tried to contact Hizmet’s New York division and were told that the organisation had vacated the premises long ago. 00:20:37.207 00:20:48.727 Their Berlin office is far from being at its best; the building that once housed their media centre in Offenbach sits empty. The business model that brought schools and entrepreneurs together has failed. 00:20:51.139 00:21:02.458 [ David ]The movement still continues, in Africa, as it does in the United States. As it does in a country like Brazil. And in a variety of other countries. 00:21:02.458 00:21:11.986 But it’s obviously a much diminished organisation because it had been cut off from all of its resources in Turkey. 00:21:13.245 00:21:19.405 It had very close connections with a number of organisations in Turkey. These organisations are all shut down, they’re gone. 00:21:26.289 00:21:34.690 [ VO ]Only recently at a mosque in Fairfax, near the US capital, 47-year-old Sami Kocak, a Hizmet supporter, became the local imam. 00:21:36.728 00:21:46.447 His relatives call him every day from Turkey and beg him to leave those 'horrible people' from 'Gulen’s clique,' but their phone calls fail to bear fruit. 00:21:49.743 00:22:04.103 [ Sami ]I found in his movement real Islamic spirit, you know? I believe prophet Mohammed, alayhi wa-sallam (?), if living today, was act like as acting how Hizmet. 00:22:06.199 00:22:17.559 [ VO ]Fethullah Gulen is now in his late 70s. People who have visited him speak of heart problems and diabetes and he doesn’t talk to the press anymore. Would he be extradited to Turkey? 00:22:19.916 00:22:31.876 Would he continue as leader of what remains of his international movement? The future for Hizmet, now totally defeated in Turkey, is very much in doubt today. 00:22:34.691 00:22:44.930 [ Abdulhamit ]If Hizmet can reform itself, can reshape itself, can take some lessons from some of the things it did in the past, 00:22:44.930 00:23:06.345 which is not seen as much, as positive as some other things, I think, if Hizmet can get those lessons, can learn from them, it can survive regardless of Fethullah Gulen is leaving or not. 00:23:07.364 00:23:19.005 [ Hakan ]The coup is something similar to disintegration of Soviet Union for the Gulen movement. It in a way disintegrated, fragmented. There are different groups now, 00:23:19.005 00:23:32.246 and they are seeking their own autonomy. For instance, networks in the United States, some of them, are trying to distance themselves from Gulen and 00:23:32.246 00:23:46.986 try to go back to the teachings of Said Nursi, the original teachings of the Nur movement. I think the movement is fragmented, I do not expect movement to come back and succeed again. 00:23:55.832 00:24:05.432 [ VO ]Most of the people we spoke to have never met the world-renown preacher. They are Gulen’s most committed supporters and his harshest critics, 00:24:07.606 00:24:17.085 they live in different countries and speak different languages but– like a shadow, Gulen still touches all their lives 00:24:20.367 00:24:27.807 Some people were happy to talk about how Gulen’s ideas helped them. Others believe that they wasted their years spent with Hizmet. 00:24:29.656 00:24:44.456 Some only agreed to talk if it was off-the-record. More than a few asked us not to reveal their names. Because any discussion about Gulen today, is like playing with fire.