Municipality illegally demolishes building in İstanbul


Date posted: April 19, 2014

 

ISTANBUL

Workers from the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality have demolished a small, prefabricated shelter on land that belongs to the Hizmet-affiliated Mehtap Education Foundation, despite the lack of official permission to carry out the demolition.

The incident came amid mounting signs of a possible government crackdown on the faith-based Hizmet movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to root out the “parallel structure” from state institutions. Erdoğan lays the blame for the Dec. 17 corruption probe that implicated some of his close associates and his own family on Hizmet, a claim firmly rejected by the movement.

Accompanied by municipal police, a group of 50-60 workers — including laborers and engineers from the Boğaziçi Zoning Directorate of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality — visited the empty land where a prefabricated shelter had been installed for a guard and his family to safeguard the area.

“We will settle accounts with ‘parallellists,’ we will destroy their buildings,” the police said, according to witnesses and the guard. Without offering any legitimate explanation, municipal officials decided to demolish the shelter, and construction equipment was used to destroy it. Mehtap Education Foundation head Mustafa Başaran told Today’s Zaman that he had asked municipal police for an official document that approves the demolition.

“Instead of showing any official document approving the demolition, they just threatened me. They told me to refer my complaint to another authority, whichever I prefer,” said Başaran, who appeared stunned and bewildered by inexplicable behavior of the municipal officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

“To demolish a building, there must be an official decision, and the foundation should have been informed by the authorities before they carried out the demolition, according to the procedure. This was not the case here,” Başaran said.

He said that the foundation would file a complaint against the municipal officials.

Source: Todays Zaman , April 18, 2014


Related News

PM’s discourse over ‘no family, children’ offensive, hurtful

On Feb. 23, Prime Minister Erdoğan targeted Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli due to his criticism of the government in the ongoing corruption investigation, saying: “He does not have any concept of family. He has no such concern. We know what children mean,” in an obvious reference to Bahçeli’s unmarried status.

Only educational efforts of groups such as Hizmet can eradicate extremism

In sharp contrast to Boko Haram, there is a faith-inspired group, a civil society movement that engages in education, dialogue and charitable activities and has grown out of Muslim grass roots. Check out how disturbed Boko Haram is about Hizmet’s education campaign, which offers opportunities for both boys and girls. Check out how ISIL publications outline exactly how they hate the Hizmet movement’s efforts and why they see Hizmet as their “enemies.”

Military coup documents contain plans to prevent works of Hizmet movement

MUSTAFA GÜRLEK, İSTANBUL Documents retrieved from the General Staff hard disks also feature plans to prevent the works of the Hizmet movement (a.k.a Gulen movement), inspired by the renowned Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. In the documents, the General Staff’s Information Support Unit discussed how to bring the financial sources of the Hizmet movement under […]

Alevis voice unease over lack of promised rights at Abant meeting

Alevis have expressed at Abant meeting their uneasiness over pro-government comments claiming that the Gezi Park protests were an “Alevi uprising,” warning against a “dangerous approach that encourages wrong perceptions.” The title of this year’s Abant Platform, which started on Dec. 13, was “Alevis and Sunnis: Searching for Peace and a Future Together.” It was organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), a group affiliated with the Gülen Movement.

Gülen has strongly rejected comparison to Iran’s Khomeini time and again

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ’s recently rehashed allegations that Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen planned to return from the US to Turkey in a way similar to Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini are decades-old discredited claims that have been refuted time and again by Gülen himself in his published statements.

A New Report In Sweden Reveals Erdoğan Orchestrated July 15 Coup In Turkey

Last year’s failed coup attempt in Turkey is nothing but a false flag orchestrated by Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayip Erdoğan and his henchmen to create a pretext for a mass persecution of critics and opponents in a state of perpetual emergency, a new detailed study titled ‘July 15: Erdoğan’s Coup’ by Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) concluded.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

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

In Case You Missed It

Yes, Religion Can Still Be A Force For Good In The World

Turkish, Arab intellectuals meet around Hira in Cairo

US prosecutor denies any links to Gülen, says never set foot in Turkey

‘We won’t stop the witch-hunt’ AKP parliamentary group deputy chair says

UN-DESA 53rd Commission for Social Development

Turkey introduces new decree law to seize all Gulen-related companies

Celebrating Turkish Cultural Day

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News