Sidelines of the Potsdam Conference

On the other hand, Potsdam is one of the capitals of Eastern European secularism. A trip around the city shows that the remnants of pagan Rome are more dominant than the remnants of the more recent Christian ages. The Potsdam Conference was both a reincarnation of Frederick's tolerance and a solution offered to the dark face of imposed secularism that defied the modern world of all spiritual values that create communal solidarity.

The organizers of the conference were quite clear from the very beginning that this would be a “critical dialogue” and not just interfaith and intercultural dialogue. There were moments of criticism targeting the teachings of Gülen and the activities of the Gülen movement indeed, but in the end, all melted down to the very fact that the movement was too humble to engage in convincing public relations activities.

The Gülen movement has, from the onset, established itself as a movement that delivers. It is not a philosophical school, neither it is good at lengthy planning and strategy-making prior to acting. That is what puts the organizations of the Gülen movement into the category of civil society organizations. The movement speaks with actions. Their words are their deeds. A central concept Gülen pronounces frequently encapsulates this merit: active patience. This merit refers to being the first among those who run to the service of society and being the last to acclaim the benefits of doing so. This is a representation of Gülen's understanding of sincerity.

For active participants of the activities of the Gülen movement, this level of sincerity is a precondition of internal coherence; for a journalist, this level of unwillingness to claim the responsibility for the services does not help one obtain the data he or she needs in order to prepare a dossier about the movement. Think of yourself in the situation of asking for information on the past activities of the movement and receiving this answer: “We are not the ones who did all these. There are all gifts of God to us. Let us not speak about how many study houses there are but about the situation of the house of God we carry in our bosoms, the heart. Let's speak about love and tolerance.”

Academic conferences are venues where this need for information is satisfied. I have met several journalists listening to the speakers amazed at the fact that almost nothing has been published in their national presses about the movement. The Potsdam Conference did a good job in the sense that it brought together those who know about the movement and those who were recently introduced to it.

In each conference we jointly participate in, I hear a new Nasreddin Hoca story from Professor Thomas Michel. This time he told the following one: “Once Hoca didn't study the theme of his lecture, and when he faced the class, he said, ‘Do you know the theme of this lecture?' ‘Yes!' said the students. ‘Oh good then,' Hoca said. ‘Let me check if what you know is true. Tell me!' The next day Hoca was unprepared again, but the class replied to the same question, ‘No!' ‘I see a necessity for research in this classroom,' Hoca said, adding, ‘Go and research the theme of the class.' On the third day, half of the class said, ‘Yes,' and half, ‘No.' Hoca was clever enough to find a solution: ‘I see a great potential for a workshop here,' he said. ‘Let those who know the issue explain it to those who do not'.”