An İstanbul-based lawyer filed a criminal complaint on Wednesday against Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, with allegations such as the establishment of a criminal organization, organizing an attempt to overthrow the government, organized fraud and abuse of duty as a civil servant.
Lawyer Hüdaverdi Yıldırım submitted a petition to the İstanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office in which he accused Gülen of being behind the corruption scandal that came to public attention on Dec. 17 of last year. Claiming that the graft probe is not about corruption and bribery but about overthrowing a legitimate government, Yıldırım argued that those who emphasize the independence of the judiciary are actually asking for privileged status for the ideology of their community — by which Yıldırım meant the Hizmet movement.
Yıldırım also claimed that Gülen is guilty of using his influence over public prosecutors to make them target the government.
The Hizmet movement is a religious and social movement that is inspired by the teaching of US-based scholar Gülen.
Gulen Movement, civilian governments and the AK Party
The Gulen movement’s understanding of politics and the political process differentiate it from the military and bureaucratic elite. Its main political objective is to transform society by raising the moral consciousness of individuals. By raising moral consciousness, the movement hopes to cleanse the bureaucracy of widespread corruption, increase the efficiency and transparency of state institutions, reinvigorate public work ethic to serve the people in order to enhance the legitimacy of the state, and create opportunity spaces for marginalized sectors of the Anatolian population.
Why couldn’t Bozdağ talk about the parallel structure?
Several parliamentarians attended the meeting with the Turkish minister in order to learn more about Erdoğan’s panacea “parallel state” theory and they insistently questioned Bozdağ about the Hizmet movement. Although he has etched his name in history as the minister who undermined the HSYK and halted the graft investigations at the speed of light, Bozdağ could only say a few sentences about the “treason, Hashashin-like activities, espionage, collaboration with external forces” of this parallel structure. Yet Europeans were eager to hear some explanation from an official.
Prove it [that Hizmet linked to graft operation]
There are some people who fail to look at the charges that have been leveled against the detainees in the corruption operation that has touched the sons of three ministers and instead they just speculate about the timing and forces that prompted the operation.
Fethullah Gülen on Islam’s Relationship and Compatibility with Democracy
TAUSEEF AHMAD PARRAY* This article explores the Islam-democracy debate in the thought and writings of one of the prominent living Muslim intellectuals of Turkey, Fethullah Gülen. Born in 1941, Gülen, addresses the hotly debated issues that have gained prominence as they become highly intensified in the post 9/11 world. Fethullah Gülen (b. 1941, Erzurum, Eastern […]
Arrested journalist: I am on guard duty for democracy
Samanyolu TV Group General Manager Hidayet Karaca, who has been under arrest since a government-backed police operation against independent media outlets on Dec. 14, 2014, stated in a letter on Monday that his imprisonment for the last 66 days without legal justification is a result of his being on guard duty for democracy.
Deviation, crisis and opportunities…
The recent crisis going on between the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and the Hizmet movement is indeed not just a struggle between the two actors. It means much more than that. This fight represents a struggle between democracy and autocracy, freedom and oppression and a harmonious society and a polarized society.
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