.....has the notoriority of being the relentless defenders of radical Islam in Turkey. (quoting Vineyards).

Can someone explain this? I bookmarked Zaman as one of three online Turkish newspapers in English (the others are Turkish Press and Hürriyet) and I never found it that much defending radical Islam. In fact, I sometimes wondered about the controversial topics they have published, quite critical to government and other leaders.

I don´t have a habit of telling lies Trudy...

http://sozluk.sourtimes.org/show.asp?t=zaman%20gazetesi%20omurgasizligi

You need a friend who understands Turkish though.

My my, what a long, long toes again, easy to step on. Did I say you told lies? No. I just wondered why you´ve called it ´defending radical Islam´. I asked for explanation, maybe then I can understand what your idea of ´radical Islam´ is. Apparently, such an explanation is too much asked.

Fýght!

Fýght!

Fýght!

loooooooooool!

Trudy,

It is not so easy to understand the political and religious stance of Zaman. It is very complicated.

To make a long story short, a sheikh named Bediüzaman writes a comprehensive interpretation of Quran (14 volumes) in the first half of the 20th century. The name of this book is Risale-i Nur (Book of Light) People showing interest in his teachings call themselves Nurcu and they organize in local associations where they study Bediüzaman´s principles  behind closed doors for years.

After the death of Bediüzaman in 1960, other people take up the flag. Fethullah Gülen is the current leader of this sect. Since the 80´s there are claims that this group is being financed by the governments of certain Arabic countries which would like to export an Islamist regime to this country. They are believed to have extensive financial resources. They use this money to penetrate into the police and the army organizations. Every year, the army which is more alert  about these matters disassociates a number of officers on account that they take part in recessionist activities. Many of those people are claimed to have links to Gulen.

Formerly, Gulen followers were advised to stay away from everything made by infidels including coke and TV. They now have changed their strategy. They are using the taquiyye principle of the religion which tolerates telling lies when believers get into trouble. Perhaps originally intended by Mohammad to help Muslims protect themselves when they are threatened by tyrans by falsely denouncing their faith; this principle provides ground for excuses like religion being under threat completely hence lying is justifiable...

This change of strategy is evident in Zaman. They hired reputable people including poets and writers. They set them free.  Apparently, they are the largest selling paper in Turkey with copies exceeding one million. In fact, rich people supporting the aforementioned religious movement buy these papers in bulk and get them distributed in poorer quarters, in key congregation points like schools and hostels. They have organizations throughout Europe. They are particularly active in ex Soviet republics.

Gulen also founded countless schools both in Turkey and in ex-Soviet republics. Turkish is being taught in these countries. The education quality is admittedly excellent. Like in the paper business though there is always a message which is being given little by little. This is a multi-million dollar advertising campaign aiming to create a massive following. Meanwhile, the task of penetrating into key organizations is still continuing.

After all the targets of this campaign have been achieved, religious bigotry will rear its ugly face. They target the secular authority in Turkey. In the past, they wrote this in their paper repeatedly. What is the alternative of secularism? Sheria!.

Thanks Vineyards, for this long explanation. I understand what you say about that strategy, about taquiyye (that was told before to me by a Moroccon student, I know it´s existence), the worldwide campaigning of Zaman I know too (we have a monthly edition on paper here as well - but that is soooo boring, so tame, it made me yawn when I read it). Still I have a qeuestion, the fact that Zaman is maybe paid by Arab/sheria-based organisations is for me not seeable. And in their articles I really cannot read it, I´ve read worse articles in Dutch papers. Can you give a link of an article - English version please - that is penetrated with this radical view please? And, if Zaman is so religious, is there a better alternative online in English?

I don´t know of a link where you can find an English language analysis about Zaman but I can give you the link to the Nur asssociation where you can access pages in virtually all major languages.

http://www.nur.gen.tr/tr.html

Trudy,

You can start by writing a query at google like "gülen schools banned" which I did and gave me many links.

Also when I am curious about something, I always give wikipedia a try.

Like this one for example.

 I didn´t ask for that information - about schooltypes. I just wanted to know why Zaman is called a defender of radical Islam while I don´t recognise it.