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TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?
Gülen´s sudden emergence on the political scene has triggered much controversy among secular intellectuals, a considerable number of whom suspect him of using different tactics to reach the same goal as the Islamists. They worry that behind his benign facade, Gülen hides ambitions to turn the country into an Iranian-style Islamic state. The insecurity and intolerance of some secularists causes them to accuse Gülen´s community of being the enemy of the Turkish republic. They also worry that secularist parties will privilege Gülen in exchange for his promises not to endorse Refah. Rusen Cakır, author of a book on the rise of Islam in Turkey, finds that "The [secular] parties are promoting him as an alternative to Welfare. They´re using their enemy´s weapon against their enemy." Another expert on Islamists, Iskender Savaşır, made similar remarks saying, "I cannot say that Fethullah Hoca is not collaborating with the state." A "radical socialist" weekly whose sometimes sensationalist and unreliable allegations were used by the Turkish military, claims that the Gülen group "acquired financial support from the state, particularly from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs" and points to former prime minister Tansu Çiller having transferred "large sums from her ministry´s secret budget" to his schools, seeing this as "one of the reasons for the close relations he has with her."
At the same time, Gülen has the support from well-known liberal intellectuals (such as the journalists Mehmet Altan, Mehmet Barlas, Mehmet Ali Birand, and Cengiz Çandar) who argue that the solution to Turkey´s problems depends on reaching a consensus and like the "soft" face of Islam he presents. Birand, for example, recently argued that Gülen has original ideas and that all segments of Turkish society—implying the military—should pay attention to this vision.31 Gülen´s critical stance toward Refah won him support from nationalist-conservative intellectuals (like Altemur Kılıç and Nazli Ilıcak). As a symbol of this support, Gülen´s Turkish Journalists and Writers Foundation hosted an iftar meal in February 1996, at which about a thousand distinguished politicians, businessmen, artists, and intellectuals turned up.
http://www.meforum.org/article/404
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