Islamic scholar Gülen says obstinacy turns positive

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen said “obstinacy has become positive” over the prep-school row in his latest video, aired by a website close to him. DHA photo

Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen said “obstinacy has become positive” in his latest video, aired by a website close to him, which has published successive videos of his speeches during the “prep school row” between the Turkish Government and his “Hizmet” (Service in Turkish) Movement.

“Don’t be stubborn, people like you who believe in the Qur’an, faith and national goals must know to take their steps back,” Fethullah Gülen said in his latest video on herkul.org. The video was taken on Dec. 1, but Gülen wanted it to be aired Dec. 4, according to the website.

Gülen said the worst feeling in humanity is obstinacy and the evil mechanism of obstinacy has become positive, referencing the latest government act, which poured cold water on the Gülen-government row.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç on Dec. 2 announced prep-schools, known as “dershanes” in Turkey, will be given a time period of two years to convert their institutions into private schools, while denying the move represents hostility toward the Hizmet movement of the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Supporters of the Gülen movement have cautiously welcomed the government’s decision to set September 2015 as the deadline for the “transformation” of prep schools into private schools, bringing down the heat in the ongoing row between the parties.

The tensions between government officials and Gülen supporters ran high over the last weeks after the government announced it will shut down prep schools, which drew strong reaction from Gülen’s side, which alleged the government act would damage free entrepreneurship.