Current president Park Geun-hye is the daughter of the former authoritarian president of South Korea, Park Chung-hee. Her father come to power by military coup in 1961 and stayed in power for two decades, until his assassination in 1979. That was not the first assassination attempt he saw, 4 years prior to his death, a North Korean spy had tried to kill President Park, but the assassin accidentally killed his wife, Yuk Young-Soo.

It is during this tumultuous time, after her mother’s death, that Geun-hye became susceptible to anything linking to her deceased mother. Very soon after her mother’s funeral, she met Choi Tae-min, who was a former soup factory worker, later pseudo-Christian (or some say shaman) cult leader claiming to heal people. Much like Rasputin, here was a rags-to-riches story of a soothsayer.

Choi Tae-min convinced the former dictator’s daughter that her mother did not die completely. Rather she had left an open path to reach her daughter when he saw her mother asking for help in a dream. Building a relationship with someone in such a vulnerable state, Choi was able to gain her trust and started to take advantage of this relationship. As a result, he collected a fortune based on his informal relationship with the president’s daughter. That type of relationship also gave him the power to enter into business dealings and to further expand her interests.

Many years after Park’s death, when finally South Korea had embarked upon a democratization process in 1987, Park Geun-hye appeared again on the political arena but this time not as a president’s daughter, but as an ambitious politician competing for parliament. After her long political career, Park Geun-hye finally got elected as President of South Korea in 2012. With Park’s election, Choi’s daughter Choi Soon-sil – characterized by the American embassy in Seoul in a WikiLeaks cable dated 2007 as the “Korean Rasputin” – allegedly became the power behind the throne. Choi, it is said, took full control of government, from preparing important speeches to gaining access to official secrets, and the Choi family transformed the Presidency into a puppet.

These shocking allegations have been revealed only recently. People have learnt about the relationship between the Choi family and Park Geun-hye, which had begun very early on in her life and continued seamlessly at every stage of Park’s success. The first event which exposed this dangerous sham was when Choi Soon-sil’s daughter was unfairly accepted to Ewha Womans University, a prestigious university in South Korea. This was the catalyst for wide spread protests, the perception that the “university entrance exam was the only way to climb the social ladder,” as was remarked by Kwon Jong-sang, a South Korean blogger, and through nepotism, the exam had been removed as a requirement for the powerful.

The interesting thing is that the Gülen cult works in much the same way. Suspicion was first raised about the organization when rumors emerged that exams for the military, police and other government institutions were stolen. Rigging the exam process to gain access to the state was seen as a crucial goal to attain power in the long run.

When it comes to the Turkish case, we see a similar pattern. An organization which tries to capture political power and state institutions using “celestial” power established in a long and historical context, with some differences. Fethullah Gülen, the cult leader just like father Choi, followed a more institutional path in order to gain power. While Choi had convinced the top of government directly, Gülen placed his loyal followers into the government and the state, step by step. The term “state infiltration” may be a Hollywood-style term for Westerners, but it was the exact case in Turkey. Gülenists had started the infiltration many decades earlier. He had even urged his followers to secretly infiltrate the state in a private meeting.

In terms of methodology, whereas the Chois were using pseudo-Christianity or according to some sources, shamanism as a base for cultic features, Fethullah Gülen’s was using Islamic teaching as a base for his miraculous, divine abilities.

Firstly, he had positioned himself above all other humans, and he was even setting up “meetings” with Prophet Muhammad every Thursday, according to one of his former followers. Probably in one of those meetings, he even received an order from the Prophet for “doubling the tweets” (referring to the tweets for the battle against the government by his followers in 2013). He also said that the Prophet came to the International Turkish Olympiads, an annual Gülenist event. After convincing his followers of his superior position, all members became ready for any order coming from the top of the pyramid.

Secondly, Gülen started establishing huge networks, foundations and businesses as well as collecting money from members. Even if some fundraising ended up being used for lobbying activities for Hillary Clinton, because the members are strictly tied to the cult, no objection were ever raised.

Thirdly, the most significant part was education. As mentioned above, many of his followers were stationed in police departments, army, judiciary, political parties, media etc. According to a statement from a military official facing charges of being a leader of the July 15 coup attempt, the military entrance exam’s questions were given to Gülenists as early as 1989. The long-term purpose of education was clear: to raise students from rural areas and use the promise of upward social mobility to make them loyal in order to carryout given tasks. When the government realized how it was entirely surrounded by Gülenists, it was very hard to get rid of the virus all at once. After all, it was a group of people hypnotized by a Choi-ish style, not rational foes.

Most people assume others, including political leaders, behave rationally, as is described in game theories. But the cases of South Korea’s Choi Soon-sil and Turkey’s Fethullah Gülen show even in our “modernity” this may not be the case: individuals, even those in important positions of responsibility, may be motivated by emotional and irrational thinking, instead of the rational reasoning one would expect from modern theories of political science.

From an Education Empire to a Bureaucratic Empire

The FETO network and institutions are spread over more than 140 countries. Their main focus is the education sector, but their activities are not limited to it. Education is often a suitable and legitimate entry point to the countries in which FETO wants to become institutionalized. It concentrates its activities in civil society, targeting Turkish diaspora first and trying to reach the local elite. It continues its activities in the economic and cultural domains.

In the American context, FETO controls the charter schools network and uses US taxpayers’ money to finance these schools. FETO administers more than 150 charter schools in the US and these schools have more than 60,000 students. Some argue that FETO works in close cooperation with the US authorities, especially in Central Asia, where more than 90 percent of Turkish schools are owned by the FETO network. In Central Asia and the Balkan countries, it operates elite education institutions that usually offer strong training in the English language.

FETO has institutions in 42 of the 57 OIC countries and owns more than 2,000 schools all over the world. Its estimated assets reach 25 billion US dollars. Education institutions and well-trained teachers loyal to FETO are among its most important assets. In Germany, FETO owns more than 24 schools and more than 300 associations. The host countries often support or facilitate their education activities. But, in fact, FETO activities are banned in some countries due to security concerns.

FETO also instrumentalizes humanitarian aid with its affiliate NGOs. It tries to form business networks and aims to reach politicians, bureaucrats and other decision makers. It uses cultural and educational activities as the fundamental pillar of its PR campaign. Education, Turkish culture and the alleged Sufi version of “moderate Islam” are the major assets that FETO utilizes for legitimizing its operations in the international arena. It also lobbies business environments and politics but tries to differentiate the political and economic domains from those of culture and religion. Some politicians and religious NGOs in the US receive financial support from FETO. Education is often a useful cover and a source of funding to uphold its clandestine activities. It eventually targets and tries to manipulate elite-level bureaucratic and political posts.

Western Friendly “Moderate Muslims” as Opposed to “Islamic Radicalism”

FETO places special emphasis on PR campaigns in the transnational domain. Its education and “dialogue” activities are the main PR instruments. Inter-faith dialogue provides a platform on which FETO’s religious activities are concentrated. In the non-Muslim majority countries in particular, FETO tries to promote inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue projects. The moniker of a FETO-affiliated institution gives the impression of a dialogue center promoting a “liberal and pro-dialogue” version of Islam as opposed to a more conservative or extremist version. It tries to portray its understanding of Islam as compatible with Western moral codes and political interests.

In its activities it refrains from presenting itself as solely an Islamic religious network or missionary Islamist network that tries to spread a religious message. It uses the label of hizmet (service) rather than da’wah (preaching of Islam). FETO’s transnational network is flexible, meaning that it tries to adapt to the priorities and needs of the countries in which it wants to become institutionalized.

Transnational Elite Network Par Excellence

FETO is a hierarchical and multilayered organization, ruled under a strict chain of command. In both Turkey and abroad, it targets elite-level students, businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians. It recruits smart students in the countries in which it operates and provides education opportunities in the higher education institutions in Turkey. It tries to form a permanent bond with the selected international student body. Before they were closed, FETO owned 15 universities in Turkey, and was also active in the administration of some state universities. Thousands of international students are educated in these higher education institutions. FETO maintains strong ties with the students educated in these institutions and further turns them into loyal subjects by appointing them to proper positions within the organizational hierarchy.

FETO is a network that concentrates its activities on the elite, rather than focusing on making a difference at the grassroots level. Unlike other traditional religious networks, it is not in the service of ordinary people. Almost all activities related to this organization specifically target the elite or potential elite of different kinds. It tries to reach high-level politicians or to train the people who will become elite bureaucrats or cultural and economic elites in their home countries. Focusing on education brings FETO legitimacy, which also helps it to become connected to the future elite in various countries. The version of education it offers is a modern Western-style education. It lacks almost any Islamic courses in its international curricula, a typical method used to disguise its real purposes. In underdeveloped countries that lack educational infrastructure, the strong education provided by FETO-affiliated institutions makes a big difference. One of the distinctive assets of FETO is the well-educated human resources that are ready to serve in different parts of the world.

The transnational networks of FETO may eventually become a Messianic elite diaspora network that may not only threaten Turkey’s interests but also manipulate the politics of the host countries. The FETO network increasingly recruits local followers from the countries in which it has become organized. Education is the innocent stage of recruitment, but the organization intends to increase its influence in bureaucracy and state apparatus. With its financial resources and educated human capital, it also manages to gain access to politicians and the business elite. Its visible face is in the areas of education and religious and cultural dialogue, but its secret aim is usually to take control of state apparatus and to manipulate the elite. Its members have gained experience of hiding themselves and deceiving people over more than four decades. Now, the main challenge for the Turkish government is to deal with the transnational dimension of FETO. Without the coordination and help of the countries that host FETO institutions, this struggle will be even more challenging. Therefore, diplomacy and international PR should be an important tool used in the struggle against FETO.

The last form of subjectivity rests on positive nihilism. The motto of a positive nihilist is “world with values.” It embraces both values and the world by redefining the relationship between them. It follows not transcendental values, which are rather given and ahistoric, but immanent values, which are socially constructed and historical. So, it embarks on creating new values from scratch. It approaches the world as neither a valueless place nor a place antagonistic to its values. It strives to create itself and a world by constantly creating novel values. Its politics, therefore, hovers over the search for human emancipation, seeking more humane life here and now.

Who is a Gülenist?

Today, one can come across both negative nihilists and positive nihilists in the West. The ideal is to make positive nihilism the norm while the default comes to be negative nihilism. Despite their sheer differences, both positive and negative nihilistic types act open-heartedly in society. They strive for power and participate in political life, but only through legal and democratic political channels.

What about Gülenism? With what type of nihilism is the Gülenist affiliated? What are the basic tenets of Gülenist politics? In fact, a typical Gülenist is a radical nihilist, blending its offensive and defensive forms. It attaches itself to a set of transcendental values, which it thinks of as alien to this materialistic and ungodly world. With its fellow Gülenist members, it withdraws from the world and builds up a parallel universe, at the center of which the Messiah figure of Fethullah Gülen resides. Like a typical stoic, it rejects the world for the sake of its own values and for an unfettered moral life within its community. It rejects the outside world to enjoy inner freedom in its cosmic world. Up to this point, Gülenism is similar to any other collectivity of hermits, or a typical religious group that is disenchanted with modern life. Indeed, this is the image the Gülenists strive to present to the general public.

Unfortunately, there is more to Gülenism. It might sound odd, but the Gülenists act with a motivation to conquer the whole world. Hizmet (to be in the service of the whole of humanity) is a key word that defines the movement. It should be noted that the Gülenists operate in more than 100 countries across the globe. Gülen establishes his sermons on the theme of entering the hearts of the local people by offering various kinds of service, such as education and health, and talks highly of those “soldiers of Hizmet.” The mission of the soldiers of Hizmet is not only made up of helping people where they operate but also to marry the daughters or relatives of local notables to garner political influence for the cause. In each country, by enlarging its clout in civil society and infiltrating state apparatus, the Gülenists strive to control the strategic posts of power. This amounts to amplifying the Gülenists’ parallel world step by step and society by society towards the outside and, in the end, uniting the whole world under its own parallel world.

To achieve this, Gülenists pose a Janus-faced personality. This hypocritical personality speaks two separate and somewhat contradictory “languages.” With the “outside people” (a generic label given to non-members by the movement), the Gülenist talks like a typical individualist liberal-democrat; within the boundaries of its closed community, it communicates through an esoteric language that incessantly reminds the members of their collective responsibilities and the importance of self-sacrifice for the cause. It praises the society of free and equal individuals in its media outlets as it interacts with the general public, yet within the boundaries of its community it is allowed nothing but a very strict hierarchical structure that has formed around an infallible and omniscient Messiah figure.

Moreover, it talks around the importance of dialogue and tolerance among individuals and societies in the public sphere but does not hold back from resorting to build up exclusive and closed areas of control for itself in society behind closed doors and to use all kinds of violence against those whom it thinks of as an obstacle to its sacred mission when the opportunity presents itself. Hence, it abides by two completely different registers of morality. It does not hesitate to act completely in contrast to its value-system or pretend in order to hide its real self in the outside world. In Gülenism’s lexicon, this act of dissimulation and infiltration is of central importance, and is known as takiyye or tedbir.

Thus, eventually, Gülenism has grown from being a collective of introverted stoic-type radical nihilists to a collective of extroverted Daesh-type radical nihilists. It has slowly evolved from a figure that turns its back to the world to enjoy inner freedom and repose, to a figure that embarks on destroying the world of others for the sake of its own parallel world. This evolution from defensive to offensive radical nihilism has gradually progressed and reached its prime on the bloody night of July 15. Indeed, Gülenism is a clandestine terrorist organization acting outside the legitimate boundaries of democratic politics, attacking the very values of freedom and equality upon which the West was built. In short, it is remote and detrimental to the ideals of the West.

Why should not the West support the Gülenists?

As this Janus-faced structure of the Gülenists unfolds, the interests and ideals of the West will fall apart. The growing discrepancy between the faces, therefore, will put pressure on the West to make a hard choice between its interests and ideals. Until now, the West has seemed to side with interests, putting ideals on the back burner. Indeed, to recover the emergent contradiction between interests and ideals after July 15, the media outlets have been inundated by coverage that struggles to carve out a convenient narrative of the event. This has encapsulated various forms of coverage, such as denying the reality of the coup attempt, turning a blind eye to the Gülenists’ involvement in the coup and putting the spotlight on the purges of the Gülenists by state apparatus after July 15.

Nevertheless, in the long run, protecting the Gülenists will inextricably harm Western interests. Political actors are supposed to perform their identities through their actions as long as they want to maintain the existing definition of who they are. Therefore, sacrificing ideals to interests to such an extent may unleash an identity crisis and disrupt the actors’ ethical integrity. This may deepen the thriving problem of democratic deficit, which has been instigated by the ever-growing distance between the elite and the common people in the West. The rise of right-wing populism that is underway across the West may find more room to flourish and finally lead to a wave of political instability.

Moreover, not living up to its own ethical-political standards will also significantly erode the West’s moral standing in the international arena. True, hard power calls the final shot; however, soft power is a necessary ingredient for an efficient foreign policy and determines success in international politics. The loss of moral superiority and prestige will enervate the West’s leadership in world politics. In a nutshell, Gülenism is the fatal dagger to the very heart of the Western worlds’ ethical-political ideals and to its strategic interests as well.