Las Aguas Azules

5.8. DISCURSIVE ARTICULATION: 2006-2011 5.8.1. Topics As the size and number of businesses owned by GC participants increased and they became important actors of the economic system in Turkey, the Community itself became more institutionalized, the reach of its institutions increased and the range of its activities diversified. As a result, especially after 2006, there was a discernible increase in the number and range of issues in the community’s publications. In Sızıntı, Kırık Testi and Bamteli, identity construction through descriptions of self and others continued to be one of the most prominent topics. As more and more women in the GC started to work both in the institutions of the community and in the private sector, women’s role in the public and private spheres became an issue of interest. The need to regulate the relationship between men and women increased. As a result, after 2006, there was a significant increase in the number of articles on marriage and family life, working...

 5.7. DISCURSIVE SHIFT : MARCH-DECEMBER 1999 The main discursive shift in the GC took place around June 1999, when videotapes in which Gülen seemed to advocate an Islamic state were released.466 This heralded a significant and abrupt change in the GC discourse. After March 1999, the main difference in Sızıntı was not the choice of topics, but the nomination and predication strategies employed in addressing those topics. Prevalent topics between 1996 and 1999, such as the difference between self and other, old social order and new social order, action and criticism of capitalism, continued to be discussed in 1999. Towards the latter half of the 1999, there was an increase in the articles focusing on education, science (ilim) and media. One of the most significant changes in Sızıntı was the introduction of the concept of dialog in the March 1999 issue. The concept was defined as opening one’s mind, soul and heart to others, but it was not further elaborated. Still, the inclusion of t...

 5.6. GÜLEN COMMUNITY DISCOURSE BETWEEN 1996 AND 1999 5.6.1. Topics Between 1996 and 1999, the theme that dominated Sızıntı was the contrast between self and other, pointing to the role of Sızıntı in the construction of identities within the GC. The most common mechanism of identity construction was the formulation of the “other” as a homogenous entity. Generally, the “other” in this context referred to the Westernized masses in Turkey who internalized values of materialism and positivism.419 At other times, the other was the “West,” characterized as a single actor.420 After February 28th 1997, when the so-called “post-modern” military intervention took place, there was an increase in the efforts by the GC to differentiate itself from other Islamic actors. Around this time, in two different articles, various Islamist actors were also constructed as “the other.”421 Between 1996 and 1999, one of the most commonly covered topics was the difference between science (bilim) and ilim, a c...

 5.5. CHANGES IN THE GÜLEN COMMUNTY DISCOURSE In order to analyze the discursive shifts in the GC discourse, this study draws from Hall’s understanding of articulation. Hall views the establishment of hegemony as a process of articulating and disarticulating ideas. For him, articulation means forming discursive connections between different discourses. Laclau and Mouffe provide the framework of the mechanism through which articulation takes place. According to them, articulation is the process whereby certain concepts become reference points, or lenses in re-defining other concepts and temporarily fixing this meaning. Reference points also establish connections between various concepts. Different political actors compete to construct new reference points. Among these actors, those who can establish reference points that enable articulations between discourses of different socio-political actors can acquire legitimacy and become hegemonic. As discussed in Chapter 2, the Discourse Hi...

 This chapter will focus on answering two questions. The first is: Since Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement have much to say about morality and ethics, does one promote ethical discourse independently of various versions of Islam? Th e second question is: Can other religious systems or nonreligious networks learn from the movement? More specifi cally, I will fi rst describe how Gülen and the Hizmet movement derive their understanding of morality and ethics from the primary and secondary sources of Islam. Th eir ethical understanding will be examined in terms of how ethics is enacted or applied. Th e chapter will then focus on similarities and diff erences of how ethical discourse is promoted by Gülen and the Hizmet movement compared to other versions of Islam. In the rest of the chapter, I will examine and describe ways other religious systems or nonreligious networks can learn from the ethical discourse and ethics-in-action of Gülen and the Hizmet movement. I begin by posing ...