The rise of Islam in Turkey--a deep perspective

Mustafa Akyol has written a very insightful essay, Turkey Is Getting More Secular, Not Religious, in his column The White Path. His formulation of the interaction between socioeconomic class, religious devotion, and social advancement has a lot to say for all who are interested in the role that religion plays in contemporary society.

Terrorism in Turkey--an insight

Reading various press accounts of terrorist attacks in Turkey, I find it hard to tell who did what to whom and for what reason. Mustafa Akyol, in his blog The White Path (the writings of Mustafa Akyol—on Religion, Politics, and Culture, offers insight into what we're seeing as we hear the different biased depictions. The article, Terrorism In The Turkish Mind, helps me put the accounts into perspective, by comparing the different press coverages with the political positions of the various newspapers.

More from Today's Zaman

Now that we're back from Turkey, I'm kind of using this blog to park interesting things from media reports and editorials about Turkey and the Gülen movement.

Today, I read an interesting op-ed from my friend Muhammed Çetin, who introduced me to the work of the Gülen movement when he and I lived and worked in Houston, Texas. The op-ed, Gülen-inspired schools and SMOs, describes the tension between how members of the movement view themselves and their work and how those who oppose or fear the movement view and portray it.

Here's an excerpt:

Because of its brevity, outsiders tend to use "Gülen schools" rather than "Gülen-inspired schools." But the shorter term seems to imply some sort of central control of activities and even an ideology, while the second makes it clearer that there is no centralization in the movement. Gülen movement participants tend to use the Turkish term hizmet (volunteer services) for the projects and services they provide. This is a solution for the inconsistency in naming the Gülen movement and the institutions it inspires and in clarifying their identity for outside observers.

Thorough analysis of the current political/constitutional crisis in Turkey

A slightly more balanced view than the already-pretty-balanced-looking OpEds in Today's Zaman, this analysis from Andrew Arato was up on Juan Cole's blog.

Turkey alive

Today's online edition of Today's Zaman has an interesting article about a silent protest march in the Tünel neighborhood in Istanbul. On our tour, we rode the Tünel funicular train from near the Jewish Museum to the very European-feeling İstiklal Avenue, in the Beyoğlu neighborhood. The photo shows our beloved guide Zaynep shepherding us aboard the train.

The protest demonstration appears to have been aimed at recent moves by the establishment (the secularist elite) to use non-military instruments of power, particularly the judiciary, to accomplish the equivalent of a military coup d’état. I'm not qualified to comment on the details of the speakers or statements at the event, but I'm impressed with the way the newspaper covered the event, and printed the essence of the organizers' public statements. I wish that American press coverage accurately reported the message of large public protest demonstrations.

Another cool thing was that they covered the participation of "Lambda-- a gay rights association --" in organizing the event. A nascent movement for LGBTQ civil rights making common cause against repression with advocates of religious freedom stands out for me. I don't know of any association between the Gülen movement and this demonstration. Yet, if the spirits behind this political demonstration for Muslim religious freedom can peacefully (and productively) coexist with Lambda, then their commitment to peaceful coexistence in general looks strong indeed.

Full group photo in Nigde

This was a group photo, taken with our hosts after a breakfast and interfaith dialogue in Nigde. I wrote about our host in a previous post. He's the one on my left. Standing to my right was the Imam from the local faith community in this small Anatolian town. His gentle openness to interfaith dialogue was impressive, and reflected well on the Gülen movement.

Patrick's Seattle Times article

The Rev. Patrick Howell, S.J., was an important voice and heart on our tour. Patrick is the Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Seattle University. Today's Seattle Times, published his column about our trip. The headline, Call to prayer points out key role of Islam in modern-day Turkey, was selected by the editors, though Patrick's article shared more interesting perceptions from our shared experience. He offers insights from the changes he's seen since his previous journey to Turkey, and a context in which to view our own life here in Seattle. His article closes with the words of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, whose wisdom hung in the air over many of our interfaith dialogues.