A National Security Council (MGK) plan — dated Aug. 24, 2004, titled the “Plan to Crack Down on the Fethullah Gülen Group in Turkey” and undersigned by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, ministers and military commanders of the time — is already being implemented.
Though the government claims it was not put into action, there are several indications to suggest that the MGK plan is in effect. 1) The plan says: Legal arrangements to bring about heavy sanctions for Gülen-affiliated institutions should be adopted. To this end, the government has made a plan to shut down prep schools and force Bank Asya into bankruptcy. 2) The plan says: Gülen’s group should be closely monitored by public servants who are assigned abroad. To this end, Prime Minister Erdoğan ordered ambassadors during the sixth Ambassadors’ Conference in January to talk about the “unlawful activities” of the Gülen group abroad. 3) The plan says: The Interior Ministry should be watchful of efforts by Gülen’s group to make new members. To this end, the ministry removed from duty around 6,000 police officers who reportedly are sympathetic toward the group and reassigned them to lower positions.
Investigation into journalist over MGK, MİT revelations blow to free press
A prompt investigation launched against journalist Mehmet Baransu for reporting on a confidential National Security Council document that mentioned a planned crackdown on faith-based groups in the country has been met with harsh criticism by Turkish and foreign journalist associations. “It is the responsibility of a journalist to report on issues that directly concern the people,” stated Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon, when speaking to the Cihan news agency.
Turkey crackdown: deep unease in Fethullah Gulen’s home village
“They were a family of thinkers,” said a dairy farmer in the village who asked not to be named as he feared repercussions from the authorities. “They were good people. They came from nowhere, they had no water, nothing,” he says, pointing out the Gulen family’s former home, made from clay and rocks.
Six Turks arrested in Kosovo over Gulen links extradited to Turkey
Six Turkish nationals arrested in Kosovo over links to schools financed by the Fethullah Gulen movement that Ankara blames for a failed 2016 coup have been extradited to Turkey.
An AKP-neo-nationalist axis?
Emre Uslu, 14 March 2012 Turkey’s foremost thinker, Etyen Mahçupyan, in the Zaman daily, underlined an interesting rapprochement between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and the neo-nationalist (Ulusalcı) camp in Turkey. Mahçupyan listed a number of indicators to provide evidence for his argument. Indeed, the indicators he gives are worrisome and show possible […]
Erdogan’s diplomats have become ‘Gulenist-busters’
A diplomat told me that there was no way he would do what Tayyip Erdogan was asking him to do. It was against everything he held dear: chasing one’s own citizens without any credible evidence. Soon, many diplomats who refused to turn into Gulenist-hunters were not promoted, demoted or, worse, expelled from the ministry.
Businessmen released following operation against Gülen movement
Based on the government’s much criticized “reasonable suspicion” law, a large number of businessmen in Uşak province were detained last week as part of an investigation into the so-called “parallel structure,” although most of them were released late on Friday night due to a lack of evidence to support a possible prosecution.
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