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| Is Gulen crying because so many countries want his shit head followers to leave?
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In
no country has the Fethullah Gülen movement become more of a political issue
than in The Netherlands. A television item in 2008 resulted in questions in
parliament to the Minister of Social Affairs about a possible negative
influence by the movement on the integration of Turks in Dutch society.
Subsequently the movement was investigated by the Dutch intelligence
organization AIVD. The AIVD did not recognize a threat to Dutch society.
Later
on the government assigned academician Martin van Bruinessen to write a report
on the activities of the Gülen movement in The Netherlands. Van Bruinessen
presented much relevant information, but in his conclusion he considered that
the movement did not present a danger to integration. The minister went along
with this conclusion, resulting in the continuation of subsidies by the
government for the Gülen movement. Many disagreed with this position. Probably
to limit further suspicion the Gülen movement announced the closure of
dormitory schools, which were especially seen as a threat to integration.
Subsequently
media and politics became silent about the Gülen movement for some time.
However, recently a new controversy developed. It started when the current
Minister of Social Affairs, Lodewijk Asscher, announced the investigation of
three Turkish religious organizations: Süleymanci, Milli Görüs and Diyanet.
Member of parliament for the Socialist Party (SP) Sadet Karabulut was among the
ones who wondered (through twitter) why the Gülen movement was not included in
this probe.
On
the 30th of March the situation gained momentum when the Dutch opinion website
joop.nl revealed that Minister Asscher would be present at the launch of Zaman
Vandaag, a new weekly magazine which is part of the Gülen movement. Joop.nl
also pointed to the negative remarks about integration by Zaman Vandaag
editor-in-chief Mete Öztürk during an interview with a Belgium based Magazine.
Last
Friday the Dutch news show Nieuwsuur revealed that small dormitory schools of
the Gülen movement are still active in the Netherlands and that young children
are intensely confronted there with the ideas of Fethullah Gülen. The isolated
character of these places once again lead to the question of whether the Gülen
movement is harmful with respect to integration. Nieuwsuur also revealed that
Gülen sympathizer Köksal Gör, a Turkish member of the Dutch liberal party (VVD)
who is active in local politics, was managing these small dormitory schools.
There
were several consequences. The VVD asked Köksal Gör to resign from his position
as local administrator and Minister Asscher made a statement that he had
reconsidered his decision to be present at the launch of the weekly Zaman
Vandaag. He also said that not three, but four Turkish organizations will be
investigated, suggesting that the Gülen movement will be a target of a new
governmental investigation. A statement on the website INS Platform of the
Gülen organization shows that the followers of Fethullah Gülen in the
Netherlands are far from amused by the developments last week. Explainable,
since the subsidies to their movement by the government may be at stake in the
near future.
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