The Hizmet Movement in Exile

This ethnographic work sheds light on the stories of those exiled as a result of Turkey's purge against followers of the Hizmet (Gulen) Movement - a purge which began after the failed coup against Erdogan in 2016.
In this book, Sophia Pandya gives voice to the experiences of these political refugees while analyzing the forces behind their displacement and highlighting the powerful process of experience narration and the creation of meaning after trauma. The study is informed by the author's longstanding contact with figures in the Hizmet/Gulen Movement over the past 26 years.
The book features 71 interviews with exiles, collected during fieldwork in Greece between 2018 and 2021. These narratives serve as a historical record of the individual human rights violations in Turkey since the failed coup but also provide a framework for understanding the human cost of this authoritarian crackdown. By integrating fieldwork, personal narratives, and academic theoretical grounding, this book offers a multifaceted view of the refugee experience.

Sophia Pandya is Professor and Department Chair of Religious Studies at California State University at Long Beach, USA. She is author of Muslim Women and Islamic Resurgence: Religion, Education, and Identity Politics in Bahrain (2012). Having carried out extensive field research in Turkey, she co-edited The Gülen Hizmet Movement and its Transnational Activities: Case Studies on Charitable Activism (2012).

1. Introduction 2. Hiding 3. Crossing 4. Jail 5. Greece 6. Insight Index