Gülen should form a party, CHP official proposes

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Emine Ülker Tarhan. Hürriyet photo

The Fethullah Gülen movement should form a political party so that the country can better understand who they are, a senior opposition deputy has proposed.

“This ‘master of service,’ whose interest in politics is proven with his flexible approach during every coup period, would better form a political party. It should tell people who he is and with whom he is cooperation,” deputy parliamentary group leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) Emine Ülker Tarhan said in a written statement Monday.

She added that Gülen was indirectly instructing the government to clear Turkey of all opponents so that he could return to Turkey.

Invitation to return
Her statement came after Fethullah Gülen negatively responded to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s invitation to return to Turkey from the United States, where he has been residing since 1999.

Tarhan interpreted Gülen’s response to Erdoğan as an “instruction given to the government to silence all opposition and to make conditions more secure than today.”

Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen had rejected Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call for him to return to Turkey on the grounds that it could risk many of the achievements his movement has made.

“Destiny led me to a path away from surrendering, so I walked down that path and never thought of surrendering,” Gülen said in a length response to Erdoğan.

“I don’t want to harm the cause by coming back.”