How do faith-based movements fit into global civil society? The case of Gulen Movement
Institute of Global Affairs, MOYNIHAN, at Maxwell School, Syracuse University held a talk by Dr. Alp Aslandogan on Gulen movement and its position in the global civil society. Dr. Aslandogan, the President of the Alliance for shared values, noted the key motivation of the movement by emphasizing the transnational impact it thus far achieved. Dr. Alpdogan explained in detail how The Hizmet Movement was born in Turkey in the mid-1970s as a small faith-based community around the influential preacher Fethullah Gulen then has become a transnational movement with health, education and village rebuilding projects in over a 150 countries. Further he remarked that while the vast majority of the movement’s followers remain Turkish Muslims, the number of non-Turkish and non-Muslim participants is increasing steadily. The audience, faculty and students at Syracuse University, pointed out the importance of such civil organizations in building bridges between people with different backgrounds by conveying their gratitude to Dr. Alpdogan in providing the motivation and increasing impact of the movement in global scale.
