Date posted: February 12, 2014

ANKARA

President Abdullah Gül has underlined the importance of domestic peace for Turkey to keep up its development, noting that the country should not waste its energy by focusing on “unnecessary rumors,” an almost open reference to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s defamation campaign targeting the Hizmet movement, a volunteer-based grassroots movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

In a speech at the inauguration ceremony of a new subway line in Ankara on Wednesday, Gül said: “The first thing needed for all these [investments] to be made is peace and stability. Otherwise, we spend our energy on unnecessary rumors.”

Noting that the first thing needed for transforming energy into synergy is stability and peace, he said: “Without doubt, different ideas coexist in democracies. But it is a condition for democracy that all these [ideas] compete in a civilized way. If we don’t engage in unnecessary rumors and [internal] fights, nobody should doubt that new, additional projects, such as those big ones completed in the past 10 years, will be completed.”

Erdoğan, in his talk at the metro inauguration ceremony — which was also attended by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek — said the government would continue doing what it believes to be right. “You will not be able to draw us into unnecessary debates. You will not be able to slow us down, [or] block us. Whatever you do, we will continue doing our duty,” Erdoğan said.

Addressing the crowd, the prime minister likened recent events in Turkey to the War of Independence fought by the country more than 90 years ago. “We keep our patience in the face of all that is done [against the government]. I hope Ankara, which directed the War of Independence, will also successfully direct the new Turkey’s [latest] war of independence.”

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ, who answered reporters’ questions in Parliament on Wednesday following a meeting of the parliamentary Justice Commission, said there is no question of graft probes being blocked by the government — something which is widely claimed by opposition parties.

“It is clear in our legislation how an [judicial] investigation is completed when one is launched. The investigations will continue within this framework. There is no question that we will interfere in or block that [process]. Neither have we even considered doing such a thing,” Bozdağ said.

Source: Todays Zaman , February 12, 2014

Tags: Defamation of Hizmet | Democracy | Hizmet (Gulen) movement | Turkey |