The New York Times article of May 4, 2008 praising Fethullah Gulen schools for spreading “moderate Islam" [vs radical Islam] caused mixed reactions in Turkey. While large mainstream dailies criticized NYT article and its reporter Sabrina Tavernise, known in Turkey for her pro-AKP stance, the Islamist media, especially Zaman daily which belongs to Gulen community, are celebrating the article that elevates their Islamist leader Fethullah Hocaefendi. Zaman lashes at the mainstream media and says that Gulen is better appreciated in the West as an Islamic scholar, and an intellectual than in Turkey by his fellow Turks.
Secular Turks see Gulen as a convicted, dangerous Islamist whose shady organization has become a state within the state with global reach. For these Turks Gulen is an imam who has no formal education beyond elementary school that plans to overthrow the secular democratic regime in Turkey and establish sharia rule instead. Source: Zaman, Turkey, May 6, 2008
