Turkish press council condemns false reports on Gülen movement


Date posted: February 24, 2014

İSTANBUL

The High Committee of the Press Council in Turkey, following an appeal by the lawyer of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, has examined certain articles from the Sabah and Takvim dailies and condemned them for violating its basic principles of journalism.

The Press Council in Turkey, expressing discontent over the articles for making false statements and slandering the faith-based Gülen movement, on Monday condemned the dailies for violating the principles of journalism. The council condemned Sabah daily reporters Abdurrahman Şimşek, Ferhat Ünlü and Serkan Bayraktar for running a defamatory headline targeting the Hizmet movement, for specifically referring to Osman Hilmi Özdil as “The police imam of the Hizmet movement” (Cemaatin Emniyet İmamı) and for other slanderous allegations by the dailies that claimed “a palace” was built for Gülen in Ankara. The council also condemned the Takvim daily for running similar headlines on the same day targeting the movement.

Gülen’s lawyer, Nurullah Albayrak, decided to appeal to the council regarding the articles in question, after the dailies refused to publish a correction approved by a public notary. The council gathered on Feb. 19 to assess the appeal and decided that the complaint was valid, highlighting that there was a violation of the sixth article of the principles of journalism, which prohibits a claim being published before its reliability is proven as far as is possible.

The council asserted that the dailies continued publishing articles which carried claims a residence was constructed for Gülen even after the owner of the residence, Akın İpek, refuted the claims and a statement from İpek was published by the same dailies.  The council drew attention to the ninth and 10th articles of the journalism principles which say that “no one can be deemed guilty unless it is proven so by law” and “crimes cannot be attributed to a person until convincing reasons regarding the accusation are found.”

The council stated that there has been a violation of article 16 of the press principles which requires journalists to respect media outlets’ right of reply and to have false repots corrected.

The council’s decision has also been published on its website.

Source: Todays Zaman , February 24, 2014

Tags: | | |


Related News

Gulen-linked body condemns attempted Turkey coup

For more than 40 years, Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet participants have advocated for, and demonstrated their commitment to, peace and democracy. We have consistently denounced military interventions in domestic politics. These are core values of Hizmet participants. We condemn any military intervention in domestic politics of Turkey.

Pro-gov’t daily repeats Bharara controlled by Gülen movement, calls him ‘stupid’

One of the staunchly pro-government newspapers in Turkey, the Star, daily has repeated earlier claims about a US attorney, saying that he is controlled by the faith-based Gülen movement and “stupid.”

Inspectors finds no flaw in Kimse Yok Mu activities

A report prepared by inspectors assigned by the Interior Ministry earlier this year clearly states that not a single irregularity was discovered in the activities of the charity organization Kimse Yok Mu at the end of an audit carried out by the ministry’s inspectors.

İstanbul municipality tears down part of school in midnight operation

The İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality sent teams in the early hours of Tuesday morning to the private Fatih College in the Merter neighborhood to demolish the wall of the school as well as a security cabin in the school’s courtyard.

Pak-Turk schools: Parents urge government against transferring administration to Erdogan-linked organization

“All the Turkish teachers and administrators have left Pakistan and the schools are being run by Pakistanis,” said one of the parents Syed Amir Abdullah. He added that the government still seemed hell bent on ruining these institutions by handing them over to an ‘infamous organisation’ which has no experience of running them.

Is it struggle between AK Party and Hizmet?

A prosecutor, Mr. Sadrettin Sarikaya, recently invited head of Turkish Intelligence Agency (MIT) for testimony that caused political controversy. Many journalists and politicians claimed that behind this was Fethullah Gulen. Mr Sarikaya’s accusation was that some intelligence agents that infiltrated the Kurdish terrorist group to provide intelligence were actually not performing their job, and moreover […]

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Fethullah Gulen — A view from Israel

US Cannot ‘Suspend’ Constitution for Gulen Extradition – Ex-Prosecutor

A Muslim voice to be heeded

Senegalese deputies say Turkish schools taught them fraternity

How the fallout from Turkey’s coup attempt has been felt in South Africa

With blinders on, government sees everything as parallel structure

Government carried out a “controlled” coup in an attempt to exploit its outcomes: Opposition leader

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News