urged his students to support them. Indeed, Menderes and the government had to sustain opposition of the most vengeful and ruthless kind from the ousted Republican People's Party and particularly its leader, İsmet İnönü. This support was despite Bediuzzaman and the Risale-i Nur Students continuing to be subject to various sorts of harassment at the hands of officials — mostly supporters of the RPP — and to be called up before the law, and also despite the fact that the Democrats were, in Bediuzzaman's words, "the lesser of two evils" and that among them were individuals who could not be considered sympathetic towards religion. For in his view Menderes performed great services for the cause of Islam and did much to reverse the harm of the quarter century of RPP rule, so that despite the army coup which overthrew him two months after Bediuzzaman's death in 1960, and subsequent coups, the religious freedoms he returned to the Turkish people were not subsequently lost and made possible the future blossoming of Islam, in which the Risale-i Nur played such an important part. In fact, Bediuzzaman told Giyaseddin Emre, elected as Independent Deputy for Muş to the National Assembly in 1954, who visited Bediuzzaman on numerous occasions:

Adnan Menderes is a champion of religion; he has performed great services for religion and will perform [more]. But he won't see the fruits of this that he wishes. I too have performed services for religion, I can't conceal it, and like Adnan Bey, I also won't see the results. The fruits of both will become apparent in the future. [^77]

[^77]:Giyaseddin Emre, in Son Şahitler, ii, 56.

#### Bediuzzaman's Support for the Baghdad Pact

Bediuzzaman's Support for the Baghdad Pact

It is in the light of this positive attitude towards the Democrats of Bediuzzaman and the Risale-i Nur movement, and in those often difficult and hostile conditions their always aiming to draw them with advice and guidance towards further, more far-reaching measures favouring Islam and religion that his letter of support for the Baghdad Pact should be seen. Indeed, this method of service enabled the movement to emerge as a significant force within the country, although the Risale-i Nur Students themselves did not participate in politics. Also Bediuzzaman's support for the pact shows his support of Turkey and some Islamic countries joining the Western alliance against the threat of communism, in the same way that he sent one of his students to fight in Korea with his blessing.

The Baghdad Pact was first signed in February 1955 between Turkey