Tilburg University the Gülen Movement Çelik, G
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Tilburg University The Gülen movement Çelik, G. Publication date: 2008 Link to publication in Tilburg University Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Çelik, G. (2008). The Gülen movement: Building social cohesion through dialogue and education. Ridderprint Offsetdrukkerij bv. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 26. sep. 2021 The Gülen Movement Photograph by Mehmet Kaman, Ankara, 26 May 2008. The cover photograph illustrates the theme of this thesis. The photograph shows the celebration at the scene of the 6th International Turkish Language Olympics organised by the International Turkish Education Association (TÜRKÇEDER), one of the movement’s initiatives on dialogue and education. Copyright © Gürkan Çelik, Nieuwegein 2008 The Gülen Movement. Building Social Cohesion through Dialogue and Education Dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Tilburg University, the Netherlands — with references and summary in Dutch. Key words: conflict, cohesion, Islam, modernity, dialogue, education, peace, servant- leadership. ISBN: 978-90-5335-157-4 Cover by: Simone Vinke Typesetting & illustrations by: Isa Özler, Featherlight Design, Utrecht Printed by: Ridderprint Offsetdrukkerij B.V., Ridderkerk This thesis is sponsored by Stichting Vorming Maatschappelijke Kader, and J.E. Jurriaanse Stichting. The Gülen Movement Building Social Cohesion through Dialogue and Education PROEFSCHRIFt ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Tilburg, op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. Ph. Eijlander, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties aangewezen commissie in de aula van de Universiteit, op vrijdag 12 december 2008 om 10.15 uur door Gürkan Çelik geboren op 1 februari 1976 te Maçka, Turkije. Promotores ●● Prof. Dr. R.S. Gowricharn ●● Prof. Dr. H.L. Beck Promotiecommissie ●● Prof. Dr. G.A. Wiegers ●● Prof. Dr. P.S. van Koningsveld ●● Prof. Dr. K.A. Steenbrink ●● Prof. Dr. A. de Ruijter Be so tolerant that your heart becomes wide like the ocean. Become inspired with faith and love for others. Offer a hand to those in trouble, and be concerned about everyone. *** To my parents To Saniye To Dilara and Talha PREFACE In an interdependent world of increasing public and political concern with social conflicts, this thesis is intended to examine the issue of social cohesion from the perspective of the activism of a civil society movement. The movement examined in this dissertation is associated with the name of Fethullah Gülen. He is a con- temporary Turkish Muslim scholar who calls for dialogue and education as two means to construct lasting peace. It is precisely these two main methods of the movement – dialogue and education – for maintaining social cohesion on which I will focus in this thesis. In recent years, the movement has begun to attract academic attention. In 2007, the Australian Catholic University established the Fethullah Gülen Chair in the Study of Islam and Muslim-Catholic Relations. In 2008, Gülen was voted the world's top living public intellectual of the year in an internet poll organised by Prospect and Foreign Policy (Foreign Policy 2008a,b). Moreover, in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands several academic conferences have been convened about the movement and its contributions to global peace. More surprisingly, there is little scholarly work so far on the movement’s message regarding the causes and cures of social conflicts and rivalries. The current thesis therefore makes a contribution to the study of peace by providing insights into the management of ‘unity of diversity’ and the practice of multiculturalism and cohesiveness in pluralist societies. In addition, it is today a fact that diversity and pluralism are not only a phenomenon within societies but also between them. In this respect, then, this is not just a thesis about the Gülen movement, though by necessity it is that. This study also presents the thoughts and practices of Gülen and the movement associated with his name and elaborates on the reconciliation of social conflicts. My personal research interest on the subject of social conflicts and social cohesion is a result of an enduring curiosity about Fethullah Gülen’s ideas and his movement’s educational and intercultural activism, which emerged in Turkey and then received its articulation on the global scale. Especially after the fall of the Soviet Union, the movement has gradually evolved and grown in various areas of the world. This dissertation is based on the compilation and adaptation of the following pub- lished articles: ●● Chapter 3, ‘Fethullah Gülen as a servant leader’, by G. Celik and Y. Alan, The International Journal of Servant-Leadership, (2007) 3(1):247-265. ●● Chapter 4, ‘Modern ideals and Muslim identity: Harmony or contradiction? A text linguistic analysis of the Gülen teaching and movement’, by G. Celik, K. Kirk and Y. Alan), in I. Yilmaz, E. Barker, H.J. Barkey et al. (eds). Muslim ii Preface World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement (pp. 246-267). Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University Press, 2007. Chapter 4, together with Chapter 7, will be included as two separate chapters in a book to be ed- ited by Professor Paul Weller, European Muslims, Civility and Public Life: Perspectives on and from the Gülen Movement (tentative title, forthcoming 2009). ●● Chapter 5, ‘Gülen’s Approach to Dialogue and Peace: Its theoretical back- ground and some practical perspectives’, by G. Celik and P. Valkenberg, in The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations (2007) 7(1):29-37. ●● Chapter 6, ‘Gülen’s paradigm on peaceful coexistence: Theoretical insights and some practical perspectives’, by G. Celik, K. Kirk and Y. Alan in Yil- maz, K. A. El Fadl, M. J-M. Cros et al. (eds) Peaceful Coexistence: Fethullah Gülen’s initiatives in the contemporary world (pp. 297-312). Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University Press, 2007. Chapter 6 will be also published as a chapter in a book edited by Professor Simon Robinson, Spirituality, Ethics and Practice in Fethullah Gülen (tentative title, forthcoming 2009). ●● Chapter 7, ‘Opening the Road to Dialogue: An Amalgamation of Gülen’s and Spinoza’s Ideas on Tolerance applied to the situation of Muslims in the Neth- erlands’, by K. Kirk and G. Celik, in I. Yilmaz, K. A. El Fadl, M. J-M. Cros et al. (eds) Peaceful Coexistence: Fethullah Gülen’s initiatives in the contempo- rary world (pp.169-182). Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University Press, 2007. I conclude this Preface by expressing my gratitude to a number of people who have contributed to this dissertation in one way or another. First, I want to thank Professor Ruben Gowricharn and Professor Herman Beck for their supervision and coaching. Both critically commented on quite a few drafts of each of the chap- ters. My personal thanks and appreciation also go to the co-authors of several articles. I am grateful to Kate Kirk, Yusuf Alan and Dr Pim Valkenberg for their cooperation and thoughtful reflections on the previous versions of the chapters this dissertation contains. A special word of thanks is due to the Ph.D. Chamber of the Foundation for the Formation for Multicultural Cadre (SVMK), which has enabled me to realise this dissertation project. Moreover, I would like to extend my thanks to all my col- leagues at Dialoog Academie in Rotterdam for helping and stimulating me to fulfil this dream. Particularly, I would like to thank Iris Creemers for her valuable support and Larry Spears, Yusuf Alan, Professor Shann Ferch and Dr Ihsan Yilmaz for their helpful comments on parts of the text and for their reflective correspondences and conversations. Kate Kirk read all chapters and provided her customary keen editorial insights and comments. I also owe a special debt of gratitude to Kate for her unstinting generosity, which greatly facilitated my work. Further, I would iii like to thank my respondents who have significantly contributed to this disserta- tion appearing at a time when humanity needs mercy, compassion and greater understanding more than ever. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) marks 2008 as ‘Intercultural Dialogue Year’. In this sense, it is important to note that everyone who contributes to dialogue and peace, to social cohesion, to rapprochement between cultures and civilisations, and to the principle of respecting and accepting people as they are, should be acknowledged and applauded altogether. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for supporting me to complete this thesis. In particular, I dedicate this work to my parents, Hasan and Havva Çelik, for their infinite love and trust. Not only do I look back on my childhood with