One who deceives others so easily will deceive you too

On the 18th anniversary of February 28, memories inevitably went to who did what in those days and where they stood. What is recalled right away, without requiring much strain on memory, is the difference that Gülen revealed. While the mainstream media, fueled by the military and the judiciary, ran campaigns of all kinds of slanders and tricks against devout people every day and wore all devout people down, it was at the same time, perhaps without realizing it, bringing them together in the same climate of feeling. The people belonging to Gülen's Hizmet movement could not stay away from that climate of feeling either, and could not help taking upon themselves all the attacks directed at Erbakan and the others. That is why, when the words their hodjaefendi spoke about Erbakan one day on the most mainstream channel of the mainstream media suddenly revealed a deep difference, we know that the sincere Hizmet members of that period experienced their first great disappointment over it. Many people belonging to the movement in those days had to explain the situation only with arguments such as "taqiyya toward the other side." This defense even reached Bülent Ecevit's ears, and he met it with a very meaningful reply: "Never mind, even if they are practicing taqiyya, it is inevitable that over time this will turn them into what they appear to be in order to protect themselves." So from Ecevit's mouth we were to hear, of course from his own side's point of view, one of the most pithy expressions of the Islamic theory of action, or of the unity of deed and faith: "If you do not live as you believe, you begin to believe as you live." A member of the movement with whom I later had the opportunity to talk at length told me, in one breath and in this defensive spirit, that although the Hodjaefendi had seemed to recommend that the movement's members vote for Ecevit's DSP, he had in fact done the opposite behind the scenes, and that this was why not a single Hizmet member's vote went to the DSP. Of course, what occurred to me then too was that, with a taqiyya that has become such a habit, no one should be sure of what was said to whom. I never doubted that the Hizmet member I was talking to had witnessed such a statement from his teacher, but I thought that speaking so differently to so many tiered and varied centers was bound to blow up somewhere. It is thought-provoking how such strong trust could remain despite so many different levels of discourse within the movement. Those who continue to stay in the movement evidently think that the hodja is deceiving others, not them, and as long as that is so they see no problem. In fact, after every operation of deceiving and tricking, their admiration for the hodja's miracles, his feats, and his skill probably grows even more. They evidently think that this feat is shown only to others, but the problem is how they can be so sure of this. Because those who can deceive "others" so easily and skillfully are very likely to deceive you as well.

NOT BECAUSE YOU OPENED A SCHOOL, BROTHER...

After all that has happened, they can still write, in social settings or in newspaper columns, that the government's struggle against them is a struggle against the schools, the education and the activities promoting Turkey abroad that they run, and that they cannot make sense of it. Accompanied by little dramas, they gush about the service activities that have taken place and the activities of the schools abroad, and then ask which part of these is objected to. As if all the counter-operations that began after December 17-25 stemmed from the government having suddenly fixated on these educational activities for no reason.

Yesterday, Zaman newspaper published a piece that, mentioning my name too and referring to my visit years ago to a school in Cambodia, feigned not to understand our current stance by saying "you too toured these schools and praised them." I confess that on the visit we made in January 2006 upon an invitation to a school opening in Cambodia, I was deeply moved by the story of Yusuf Güleker, who founded that school. That a person with no experience even of opening a kebab shop in his own hometown had gone to Cambodia and managed to open a school was, from whatever angle you look at it, worth regarding as an epic success story. But if only it had stayed that way... If only an immoral power program, having nothing to do, near or far, with the feelings of those heroes of education, had not later been built upon those labors of love, made by hand and from the light of the eye... Unfortunately, it is not easy either for those soldiers of education to accept that those activities, which could have stayed beautiful, were squandered so recklessly.

I can understand the difficulty that those who waged such epic struggles may have in understanding or accepting what is happening today. It is not easy for a mental and emotional world, built with such a hard struggle, with care and adornment, to be destroyed by such a sharp turn. It is psychologically very likely that they do not feel like believing what is going on, and this is an understandable situation. May Allah grant ease; it is not easy. But its not being easy does not justify their present attitudes, or remaining so indifferent to what is going on.

I remind Yusuf Güleker once more: I wish your epic story had not been touched in this way. But believe me, the ones who touched it are neither I, nor Şamil Tayyar, nor Naci Bostancı, nor Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The one who generously wasted and squandered that story is Gülen himself. The subject has nothing to do with your school or your school activities. The subject is the profligate use of so many sincere, selfless and courageous labors like yours, and their use as material for a treacherous coup attempt against a government that has taken its throne in the hearts of all the oppressed and of Muslims around the world. Please, now you too understand this. It is hard but not impossible. Its difficulty will increase its reward even more, believe me.