When we talk about the current situation of the operational field on the global geopolitical chessboard, most of us start to realize the indisputable reality of the last 75 years of the world after World War II. It is especially clear that international institutions that were designed for balancing some countries’ aspirations (like the U.N) will not be able to overcome the world’s problems with the direct functions they have. As we strive for the peace and stability of the past with our humble efforts, we face the risk of being a pillar of salt like Lot’s wife in the Bible. That is to say, we come to nothing.
The only way for the salvation of mankind from the international chaos bearing the risk of a nuclear fire of Armageddon is to bring all good people together and to utilize the experience based on thousands of years. And creating a new and unifying movement of thought in an atmosphere of smart individuals that can make decisions at all levels. The ideal society and civilization can only appear as a result of this. Some distinguished minds are trying to develop a new ideological order that would cure all the global suicidal chaos and social unrest.
Turkish political regime darkens its future
Fethullah Gulen, the founder of the Hizmet Movement, offers solid ideas for the salvation of humanity but he is unjustly accused by the current Turkish government led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Gulen is accused of the coup attempt of 2016. We are talking about a thinker, writer, and Islamic opinion leader from Turkey. I would like to stress an important point. Fethullah Gulen was on the Prospect and Foreign Policy’s list of Top 100 Public Intellectuals and he has been among the most influential 500 Muslims since 2009 (he was ranked 11th in 2013) and according to the Time magazine, he was among the most 100 influential people in the world. He is often and rightfully mentioned as “one of the most influential Muslim leaders of the world”.
The current political regime of Turkey accuses Fethullah Gulen of terrorism and the coup attempt. Those accusations are totally baseless and it stems from the reluctance of the ruling elite for an enlightened future based on diversified ideas. There is an indifference for the common brotherhood of all humans that Gulen mentions in his books. Erdogan’s Turkey focuses on the past and it exploits anything including religious beliefs at the risk of international terrorism including ISIS to revitalize the mentality of the Ottoman Empire.
“Thousand-Year Reich”
The rulers of modern Turkey, where Fethullah Gulen, the prominent humanist of our day was born, not only diverged from the principles of humanism, but they also repeat the schizophrenic ambitions of the Nazi Germany of the 1930s. They had thrown the world into another world war to bring back the magnificence of the lost-out “Thousand-Year Reich”. In Erdogan’s Turkey, all citizens that are endowed with reason are incarcerated in detention camps all over the country. They are soldiers, professors, students, and also ordinary people like housewives.
Erdogan’s government has the policy to suppress any real opposition and this is the reason for the massive economic crisis that brings the citizens on the edge of poverty. But the government agitprop points the finger at foreign powers. This is also the case in other totalitarian regimes.
A fuse for the World War III
The foreign policy of the Erdogan government has a risk of bringing a large-scale military campaign when we look into the developments in Greece, Syria, and Libya and controversial hydrocarbon sources in the Eastern Mediterranean. Conflicts in the Greater Middle East and Greater Caucasus may cause disappointing consequences for all communities in the world including nuclear powers. I think universal and humanist ideas preached by Fethullah Gulen, the founder of the Hizmet movement, should be listened to carefully. I believe that the Republic of Turkey can only be turned back to the level of civilized humanity by people with a humanistic approach like them. I visited Turkey many times and I fell in love with it. So I really don’t want Erdogan, who is a standard dictator dreaming to overtake Adolf Hitler to become a fuse for the WORLD WAR III.
Dmitry Pakhomov is a member of Orthodox Churches and Public Associations Federation of the Patriarchate of Moscow, Co-Chair of Christianity and Islam Solidarity Association. Member of Defence Association of the Freedom of Religion in Russia.
