Erkam bin Ebü’l-Erkam, one of the first companions to become Muslims, belonged to a wealthy and influential family. He became a Muslim at a young age and gave his house to be used in preaching activities. Due to the increasing persecution and oppression of the Meccan polytheists, the Prophet chose this house, which is located on the slopes of Safa Hill in the Masjid al-Haram, as his residence. Here, while teaching religious knowledge to the companions, on the other hand he was inviting people seeking divine truth to Islam, reciting the Qur’an to them and praying with them.
As a result of the activities of the Prophet in this house, many people became Muslims and Umar accepted Islam here. After Umar’s conversion to Islam historically and the revelation of the verse of the message (Surah al-Hijr 94. “Then, explain what you have been commanded to make your head crack! Don’t mind the polytheists!”), which you will remember from the films ” The Message” or ” Ar-Risalah “, t6he Prophet left Dâr-ül Erkam in the 6th year of prophethood.
Dar-ül Erkam model, which has an important place in the history of Islam, naturally became a source of inspiration for all religious organizations. The one that uses the concept of Dar-ül Erkam most intensively and builds a whole system and even an ideology on it in Turkey is the “Community-Hizmet” as it is commonly known. F.Gülen wrote in his article titled “The Man of the Case”: “It is not necessary for the men of rights to be the sheikh of the lodge. The litigant does not change his attitude, neither in his victory nor in his defeat. Before Ibn-i Erkam grows up in their home, that is, until he is patiently cooked and matured, every expectation is a raw dream.” (Leaking, September 1984, Vol. 6, No. 68). Here Notion of Ibn-i Erkam referred to his houses both in the abstract and in the concrete sense.
He emphasized that a step cannot be taken openly until the congregation is patiently cooked and matured in their homes, such attempts will be fruitless and the end will be disappointment. Gülen also identified the life and various activities in these houses with the activities of the Companions of the “secret communique” period, introducing definitions such as “the pioneers of the second resurrection” and the “second period of the Companions” and recommended some “secret” activities to be carried out in the community houses.
It would be a lack to consider the foundations of the mentality in the establishment of community houses separately from the “summer camps” organized by F.Gülen in İzmir and Aegean provinces during his tenure in Kestanepazarı. Let’s not forget that many well-known people who have already involved in various elements/units of the community and of course in the public sector, attended these summer camps that lasted for about 2-2.5 months during their childhood.
In order to ensure the continuity of the community, which reached more youth/children through these camps, it opened the first houses for university/high school students and used different names such as “İbn-i Erkam houses, community houses, classrooms, light houses”. Subsequently, along with the number of these houses, the community’s recognition among the public also increased.
The activities that could be identified with “secret communique” in homes were “secret/privacy activities” which turned into a madness that we later called “secret/privacy ideology”, apart from traditional teaching and guidance. In other words, it was the directing of the selected students from the homes to military schools and police schools, and subjecting them to special education processes.
Each of the ” secret/privacy units” which later diversified and increased in number, can be examined as a separate article, but in this article we will try to examine the issue through interviews with “military school” students.
It is undeniable that the system and political climate that emerged after the September 12, 1980 military coup d’état played a facilitating and sometimes even encouraging role for all existing communitie and sects in Turkey. At this point, one of the critical steps is to make religion lessons compulsory in the MEB curriculum, as F.Gülen frequently emphasizes.
On this subject and about Kenan Evren, F. Gülen used the following statements in his interview with Mehmet Gündem: “K.Evren did a very useful job by making elective religion courses compulsory after September 12th. This job is so big that God knows the truth – even if he has no merits, this is enough for him, K. Evren can go to heaven” (Milliyet – January 31, 2005).
We can learn historical facts most accurately from those who have lived it. However, actors and cause-effect relationships also give us important clues about what is going on behind the scenes. The first military school investigations that were reflected to the public took place in 1986. A student who was in the last year of a military high school in 1986 started high school in 1982-1983 at the earliest. In this process, it is understood that the “will”, which was able to reach the members of the National Security Council and direct the policies of the National Education, aimed to “transform” the traditional officer / non-commissioned officer profile in the Turkish Armed Forces after 12 September.
The second wave of the 1986 investigations, which started with Istanbul Kuleli, then Izmir Maltepe and Bursa Işıklar Military High Schools regarding the activities of the community, was experienced in 6 NCO (non-commissioned officer) Training Schools in Ankara, Istanbul and Çankırı. Hundreds of students were subjected to investigation, and as a result 33 students from Kuleli, 16 students from Işıklar, 17 students from Maltepe Military High School and nearly 100 students from non-commissioned officers’ preparatory schools were dismissed. Despite undergoing an investigation, the students who told what happened in their statements and their connections with the community were kept in schools “under supervision”, with their parents also warned.
The reason for the dissolution of almost the entire structure and system in military schools was that the philosophy of “secret meeting” was not dominant. Until the 1986 investigations, cadets of five, sometimes ten, went to meetings together on weekends, and they were able to act with the mission of bringing their close friends to the community at school. The widespread use of “secret meeting” as a systematic activity took place after 1986.
Grouping and educating candidate students from the preparation stage for the exams, developing discreetness towards other students/brothers at school/at home and even in the community house, accepting the logic and psychology of the cell with the feeling of being “elected” after passing the exam with the awareness of “I am the only one” after passing the exam. “Secret/privacy philosophy” has almost turned into an ideology and a lifestyle, with steps such as taking the highest level of precautions at school and building a second identity.
To put it more concretely, the number of students in the group was limited to 4-5, the subjects such as going to the community house/brothers to study, what they were doing in the community house were asked to be hidden from the school and its surroundings and it was given as a duty to make the family believe that it was their choice to apply during the exam process, not the community’s elder brothers. Then, the first steps of “secret/privacy” life were taken at the exam-health-interview stages and plans were made together to maintain contact with older brothers after enrolling in military school.
After the investigations known as the “Kuleli incident” in the secret/privacy units, the methods used in the secret/privacy activities, the behavior patterns and the “precautionary rules” that were asked to be applied without compromise were almost the same as the ones used by the intelligence services, and even they were perceived and accepted as “a pillar/ablution of the service” for the members of the secret/privacy units. It is also necessary to determine that it has almost become a nature/personality.
The main motivation of the confidential meeting is to ensure that the student continues to belong to the community, to start his professional life “without any problems” and to prevent “deterioration” in school and weekend leaves. For this reason, in the 90s the term “inspector” was used for the elder brothers in the 90s, and then “watchman” and later “teacher” in private services.
Although the meaning of the word “inspector” corresponds to the expressions “looking, watching and inspecting” it is “murakabe” that is frequently used in the community. It also has a religious equivalent, which can be summarized as “the servant’s consciousness and realization that he is constantly under the supervision of God”.
In other words, in a way, the “supervisor” brothers are responsible for the status of these chosen people regarding servitude and what they do/do not do, and in this context these students are “entrusted” to them. The psychology of taking care of this trust leaves traces on the “inspectors” the effects of which are difficult to get rid of for many years, such as feeling that they are an important person and accordingly needing to tidy up their own state and behavior.
In this new period, adjustments/introductions/transfers have been made so that the number of private groups will be maximum 3. In general, on thursday and sometimes on friday evenings, “inspectors” received general and special agendas/instructions according to their regions/large regions with their ” top inspectors ” (later named sergözcü and deputy director). In addition, they were reinforced with motivational documents/news/texts/videos that could be used in interviews. Even participating in this meeting in the regions fed the feeling of being privileged/superior/elected for the “inspector” brothers.
Naturally, the houses where the military students will be met are chosen as places other than the normal community house. In the final analysis, every house and sometimes workplace that is suitable for “secret meeting” was used, such as a trustee, a tradesman with a suitable family, a private teaching institution or a house of teacher of the Ministry of National Education.
Supervisors make a mental preparation for the weekend meeting, mainly during the week (sometimes 2 weeks). They collect observations in pill form, which they can pass on to students in this “trust” from every incident/news they read, listen to, or come across. The interview takes place after steps such as dressing, preparing a scenario about why you go to the destination, establishing the first contact with the students outside and going to the “secret meeting” place after checking the security.
In this meeting, a wide range of topics such as the background of the interlocutor (military school student), the degree of his commitment/obedience, his image at school, his success in his classes, the profile he draws for the future, his interests, hobbies, the situation of his family members, how he is with his group friends if any, his mood of the day are discussed in this meetin and his problems are listened to. By giving advice and producing solutions when appropriate the idea that “my brothers are interested in everything, they know everything” is imposed on the interlocutor. Apart from these, activities such as praying, watching visual materials if possible, reading boks are also carried out with the content of “goodness”.
The most risky aspects of this meeting system were the “confidentiality” measures, which could reach the attention of the sensitive environment. As a matter of fact, behind the raid on two different secret/privacy meetings in Izmir in 1999, there is a sensitive neighboring workplace near the workplace where interlocutors change their clothes and wear civilian clothes. Interlocutors who came periodically and changed their uniforms and gave the impression that they were in a clandestine activity attracted attention and reached the military school to report the situation by phone. After a period of monitoring, the raids took place.
The other and main risky situation is the meetings that the inspectors from different provinces held with the secret/privacy units of the military school, called “the person who follows the school”, sometimes in a community house or dormitory in the morning hours. The activities of the young people, namely the auditors who came to the city by bus from different provinces, whose number reached 100 every weekend, in secrecy, in itself created a situation of “non-precautionary”. As a matter of fact, after the 1999 events, these school meetings were diluted, the number of people was reduced and sometimes they were not held at all.
Meeting times with interlocutors were shortened, the content was made more mobile and faster, and in some places there were situations such as listening to cassettes while traveling together in public transport, learning whether there is a problem by speaking only two sentences. In cases where the meeting did not take place, the supervisors sometimes traveled for weeks in the hope of meeting in a row.
Confidential meetings have been stressful in terms of preparation, journey, individual motivation, controlling the meeting place/route, content and outcome. What is expected from the inspector brothers -that is the auditor- is to be able to control all these variables without any problems and to ensure that this continues for years without any problems.
For this reason, people working in secret/privacy units sometimes have the habit of “controlling everything” and skepticism at the disease level. In the final analysis, the “secret meeting” which is said to have started with the “Dar-ul erkam spirit” has changed/transformed into an organized secret activity. We hope that all of our people will get rid of this disease and sick structure as soon as possible.