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Letters: Don't extradite Gulen

ISSUE | TURKEY A model Muslim Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish Islamic reformer, and Hizmet, the service organization he inspires, are being called out as "savages" who should be purged "by the roots" because the Turkish government regards them as responsible for the attempted coup d'état on July 15. I know many members of the Hizmet movement, also called Gulenists, and they are gracious, thoughtful, and family-oriented.

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ISSUE | TURKEY

A model Muslim

Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish Islamic reformer, and Hizmet, the service organization he inspires, are being called out as "savages" who should be purged "by the roots" because the Turkish government regards them as responsible for the attempted coup d'état on July 15. I know many members of the Hizmet movement, also called Gulenists, and they are gracious, thoughtful, and family-oriented.

In 2015, Morehouse College in Atlanta awarded its prestigious Gandhi King Ikeda Peace Award to Gulen for his lifelong commitment to peace among nations and promotion of interfaith dialogue.

The United States should resist calls to extradite Gulen to Turkish authorities. Instead, Gulen and the movement he inspires should be celebrated as model Muslim citizens who are striving to promote educational attainment and social well-being for the people they continue to serve in Turkey and abroad.

|Mark I. Wallace, religion professor, Swarthmore College, mwallac1@swarthmore.edu