Gülen endorses reform package, appealing for ‘yes' on Sept. 12

In his latest weekly speech broadcast on website HerKul.org, Gülen responded to a question on the Sept. 12 referendum and explained why he believed people should vote “yes” on election day. Saying that political concerns should be left aside when deciding on the changes, Gülen said the package should not be viewed politically but be evaluated from the perspective of “what would it bring to the nation.”

“There are crucial changes in that package for the future of our nation. The package should be supported from this perspective and ‘yes' votes should be cast with such an intention,” Gülen said.

Underlining that everyone, including Turkish citizens living abroad, should vote positively in the referendum, Gülen said, “I wish we had a chance to raise the dead from their graves and urge them to cast ‘yes’ votes in the referendum,” highlighting the importance of voting in favor of the changes.

On Sept. 12, the nation will vote on a number of constitutional changes approved by Parliament in May. Among other things, the reform package includes changes to the structure of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK). Furthermore, the package repeals the Turkish Constitution’s Article 15, which gives immunity to the generals responsible for the Sept. 12, 1980 coup.

Noting that the public vote is an important step toward Turkey’s democratization, Gülen said he did not approve of presentation of the package as if it were merely a means to settle accounts with coup perpetrators. “It is wrong to think that the nation will take revenge on the coup perpetrators thanks to these changes, because believers are not after revenge,” he said.

Gülen also underlined that his appeal for “yes” votes in the referendum did not mean indicate any partiality on his part for a certain political party. “We are still at an equal distance from every party. We never told anybody to enroll in a specific [party], attend its rallies or act as its supporters.’ Being distant does not prevent us from voting in favor of someone on issues that we find correct for the fate of our nation. This nation has lent support to anyone who did a good job -- no matter who did it. What is supported is neither the party nor any individual, but actions. …Yes, we distance ourselves from all political parties, but being distant and sending our vote to a place which we believe will carry out right things for the future of Turkey are different issues.”

Fethullah Gülen

Gülen is a Turkish Islamic scholar well known for his teachings promoting mutual understanding and tolerance between cultures. One of the world’s most influential Islamic scholars, Gülen came out at the top of the list of “The World’s Top 20 Public Intellectuals” by the magazines Foreign Policy and Prospect in 2008. Now residing in the US, Gülen has pioneered educational activities in a number of countries along with efforts to promote intercultural and interfaith activities around the world. He has written nearly 50 books in Turkish, some of which have been translated into several languages.

What did Turkey lose in the Sept. 12 coup?

Gülen was also asked about his opinions regarding the Sept. 12, 1980 coup, the bloodiest coup in Turkish history. Stating that the perpetrators of all the military takeovers in Turkey -- Sept. 12, 1980, March 12, 1971 and May 27, 1960 -- staged these coups to seize power and maintain their authority, Gülen said: “Some people needed seas of blood to sail their ships. They split the sons of this nation into camps of leftists and rightists and they made them clash. In the end, they made use of the blood and tears they led to in establishing their own pavilion [of command],” he said.

Terming the coups as “the products of a miserable mentality,” Gülen underlined that those who carried out bloody coups and shed the blood of sons of this country by splitting them into camps are the same who are feeding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) now. “They [coup perpetrators] are the same people of the same mentality as those who use the PKK for drugs and arms trading to keep it [terrorism] alive as a bleeding wound there [in the Southeast] to realize their own interests,” Gülen said.

The Sept. 12 coup d’état was the third coup in Turkey’s history, and arguably its bloodiest. It came after a period of ideological armed conflict on Turkey’s streets during the second half of the 1970s. An estimated 5,000 people were killed during the political violence of the day. Today, there is a consensus that the violence partly escalated with the knowledge of groups in the military to create a pretext for the coup. After the 1980 coup, the military ruled the country through the National Security Council (MGK) before democracy was restored.

Some 600,000 people were reportedly detained during this period. More than 200,000 were tried, more than 10,000 were stripped of their citizenship and 50 people were executed. Hundreds of thousands were tortured and went missing.

Gülen was also asked about claims that he had praised the Sept. 12 coup when he said the leader of the coup, Gen. Kenan Evren, would go to heaven as he had brought obligatory religious courses to high schools. Gülen said that he would commend all who served the country and remember them with gratitude. Noting that he cannot ignore the good deeds of late President Turgut Özal, he also said it was his wish that the late Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit would rest in peace. “The Master [prolific Muslim scholar Bediuzzaman Said Nursi] says, ‘While all the characteristics of a believer are not those of a believer, all characteristics of an infidel are not those of an infidel.’ Do not get me wrong. I am not calling anyone an infidel. Sept. 12 is evilness, but the one who staged that coup and who did this evil can also have some good sides. I appreciated an act which I found to be good. I said in an interview while commenting on the fact that Evren made then-elective religious courses at schools obligatory that, ‘If he did this sincerely, God would forgive him because of that’,” Gülen said. He added that if someone from this or that party said and did something good for the future and prosperity of our country today, he would also wish the same upon for him. “This is for the sake of God and God’s sake is above all [else],” he said.