3 taken into custody for asking Minister Ala questions


Date posted: March 5, 2014

ANKARA

Three people were taken into custody by security forces on Monday for asking Interior Minister Efkan Ala questions about Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and the settlement process to end the Kurdish issue.

They were released after spending the night in custody.

The interior minister and people from Erzurum came together at a joint meeting held by the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) Sincan district branch and the Erzurum Solidarity Association. But a group of people staged a protest against Minister Ala and asked questions about his recent remarks concerning Gülen and the settlement process.

One man went up to Ala and asked: “Mr. Minister. I am also from Erzurum, like Fethullah Gülen.  Why did you ask him ‘Who are you?” in your speeches when there are tons of others who deserve to be asked this question?” After hearing the protester speak, Ala’s bodyguards pulled the man aside and asked for his personal information. The bodyguards also saw some people recording the incident with their mobile phones and warned them to delete the videos, according to witnesses.

Another protester, Mesut Tanhaş shouted a question at Ala, asking, “Mr. Minister, for how much did you sell Southeastern Anatolia?” Tanhaş and two others, including the man who asked Ala about Gülen, were taken into custody by police forces and then brought to the police station.

According to media reports, the three men were interrogated by two members of the National Police Department’s intelligence bureau and they were asked whether police officers had used violence against them. They were also asked questions about their professions. The three were later released.

Gülen’s lawyer has filed a lawsuit against Ala over his allegedly slanderous remarks targeting the religious scholar during his speeches. The lawyer says that Ala violated the personal rights of Gülen and made baseless claims.

Ala had called out to Gülen, saying: “You are denigrating the people — from where you are from — who are working for the sake of God. Who are you? Who are you? Are you strong enough to deal with this? Is this nation helping you in this? How dare you rise up and initiate a coup plot?”

Source: Todays Zaman , March 4, 2014


Related News

The fall of democracy and predicament of political Islam in Turkey

Hizmet is one of the world’s leading civil society movements. The threatening remarks and the derogatory discourse of Erdoğan against Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement is totally at odds with democratic norms and principles.

Erdoğan and Gülen: The Marriage of Convenience

Religiously, the Gülen Movement both reflects the long tradition of Turkish Sufi brotherhoods, and Gülen’s own emphasis on societal change through education, humanitarian activism, and interfaith dialogue. Gülen never sympathized with, or adopted, the AKP’s more conservative form of political Islam.

Turkey tries to trap Obama with extradition demand [of Mr. Gülen]

But while U.S. agency spokesmen are trying to be cautious in what they say, skepticism about Turkey’s claims that Gulen directed the plot are widespread in Washington. Last week, in comments that likely burned a few ears in Ankara, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told The Washington Post that he did not believe Turkey had yet offered enough proof to implicate Gulen, who has lived in Pennsylvania’s Poconos region for years.

Cyber attacks on news websites threaten freedom of press, expression

Starting mid-February, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has been severely penalizing a number of news TV channels known for their anti-government broadcasts. Those channels, which include Samanyolu Haber TV and Bugün TV, were mostly penalized on the grounds that their programs were biased. The channels have been broadcasting reports about claims of corruption and bribery that have implicated some government members.

Erdogan caught off guard in latest political crisis

Nobody thought Turkey’s powerful Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would be caught so off guard — not after last summer’s Gezi Park protests — as he apparently was before the major graft probe, which involves four of his ministers, including the minister of interior and his sons. It is clear he sees a “shadow state” behind the operation and holds the Gulen movement responsible. Indications are Erdogan intends to “strike back” with a massive purge within the police.

The Persecution of the Hizmet (Gülen) Movement in Turkey: A Chronicle

Since the outbreak of the corruption scandal in Turkey in December 2013, Prime Minister and then President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government have been particularly targeting the Hizmet (Gülen) movement.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Prominent Alevi leader welcomes Gülen’s remarks on bridge controversy

Already feeling unsafe in Turkey

Deutsche Welle: Power struggle between old friends in Turkey

Gülen’s lawyer says claims of luxury homes part of smear campaign

Kimse Yok Mu purchases houses for 11 Soma families

Turkish govt begins massive deportation of Nigerian students

Pro-gov’t daily proudly announces Gulenists put in ‘concentration camp’

Copyright 2024 Hizmet News