Saturday, December 28, 2013

Erdogan v Gulen

Al Jazeera has an article posted today by Yaduz Baydar of Today's Zaman entitled Erdogan v Gulen: a zero sum game?

There follows a lengthy screed heavy with both anti-Erdogan and pro-Gulen sentiment. Erdogan is portrayed as a corrupt, paranoid, anti-democratic autocrat.

Gulen is a "reclusive cleric, writer, and preacher... loved by millions of followers in and outside of Turkey for his staunch advocacy of a moderate, tolerant, modern brand of Islam, and peace and interfaith dialogue."

Not hard to take sides in the battle of Erdogan v Gulen, is it? You've got the devious despot on the one hand; the man of peace, modernity, and interfaith dialogue on the other.

Gulen good. Erdogan bad!

While Yaduz Baydar is identified as a columnist for Today's Zaman , nowhere does Al Jazeera inform us that Today's Zaman is part of Fethullah Gulen's vast empire of media holdings.

In effect, you're reading anti-Erdogan propaganda written by an employee of Fethullah Gulen.

An unfortunate oversight, I'm sure.

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