Although the AK Party government has been, since a graft probe that rocked the government was made public on Dec. 17 of last year, accusing the Hizmet movement, inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, of infiltrating the police and judiciary and forming a “parallel state” bent on regime change, these new [voice recordings] leaks suggest that the government has been making its own moves to fill the civil service with sympathizers.
Trying to size up the Supreme Court of Appeals, which would have the final say in Doğan’s case, Erdoğan allegedly asks Ergin, “What is the situation after the latest law we passed [on the Supreme Court of Appeals]? Did we set up our own game there?”
“Nearly 2,000 friends who were lawyers practicing in the private sector are being transferred into the system” is Ergin’s alleged response.
Excerpted from the news piece published on Today’s Zaman, 04 March 2014, Tuesday
A man identified as Mustafa Petek asked the Religious Affairs Directorate on March 24 if Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the Hizmet movement, deserves to be a target of hate speech by state officials. The Religious Affairs Directorate, in response to the man’s query on hate speech, said, “In Islam, no one is allowed to humiliate a person or refer to him using adjectives that don’t represent him.”
Gulen Denies Involvement – Erdogan Uses Coup for Repression
“If there is anyone I told about this verbally, if there is any phone conversation, if one-tenth of this accusation is correct, I will band my neck and say, ‘they are telling the truth, let them take me away, let them hang me.'” Gulen conceded some supporters might have been among the rebels. I would consider them to be disrespectful of my long-time ideas.
200 public servants sue PM over ‘parallel state’ statements
Interior Minister Efkan Ala was questioned about the government’s actions against “the parallel state” and the “Cemaat,” referring to the followers of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has been in voluntary exile in the United States for over a decade.
President emphasizes importance of domestic peace for development
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.
Perinçek: I have Erdoğan’s support in fighting Gülen movement
Doğu Perinçek, the Workers’ Party (İP) leader who was given a life sentence in 2013 as part of a trial concerning the Ergenekon terrorist organization, has said he has been “fighting a battle” against the faith-based Gülen movement since the 1970s and that now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is supporting him and the İP in the fight.
Turkey’s picture on freedom of the press bleak on WPFD
FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK Journalists who have taken the opportunity to reflect on the thorny issue of freedom of the press in Turkey on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), which is marked every May 3, have drawn a bleak picture, speaking about the various problems that restrict freedom of the press in the […]
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