200 public servants sue PM over ‘parallel state’ statements

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Photo: Today's Zaman, Mustafa Kirazlı)
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Photo: Today's Zaman, Mustafa Kirazlı)


Date posted: May 16, 2014

 

ANKARA

Interior Minister Efkan Ala has stated that around 200 public servants so far have sued Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his remarks on the alleged “parallel state” working to overthrow the government. Ala also claimed that these cases actually prove the existence of such a shadow state.

Ala’s reported remarks on the issue came during the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) camp-like meeting between its leadership and deputies in the province of Afyon earlier this month. At the meeting, he 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.

Ala told the camp that a “parallel structure within the state” had illegally eavesdropped on almost 600,000 individuals through operations by their members employed in the judiciary and the police.
The followers of the Gülen Movement are often referred to as the “Hizmet” (Service) Movement or the “Cemaat” (Community).

Since the opening of the huge graft probe in December, the term “parallel state” has been commonly used by critics to refer to the movement. The alleged “parallel state” is accused by Erdoğan of orchestrating the corruption scandal in order to unseat him, as the graft probe ensnared the sons of three former ministers and businesspeople known to be close to the government. The AKP responded with a huge counter-reaction, particularly in the judiciary and the police – where Gülen’s followers are believed to have been prominent – as it aimed to contain the damage.

According to Ala, since Dec. 17 some 200 cases have been opened against Erdoğan over his “parallel state” remarks.

“Most of those people who opened cases are employed in the judiciary and the police. When opening cases, they said they had been ‘offended and hurt’ due to the prime minister’s remarks. This means that they acknowledge being members of that structure. Why do they take it personally, when the prime minister does not even cite any names in his speeches? They have been confirming their membership of the organization in this way,” Ala was quoted as saying by sources at the meeting.

The AKP deputies who listened to Ala’s remarks arrived at the conclusion that the 200 people who sued Erdoğan would be investigated as part of a government’s steps against the “parallel structure,” the source added.

“The parallel structure has been eavesdropping since 2010 and has been collecting documents. We have confirmed that they conducted wiretapping in all 81 provinces of Turkey,” Ala also reportedly stated.

At the time, before the local elections took place on March 30, AKP Deputy Chair Mustafa Şentop had stated that an investigation against an illegal organization within the state was underway. However, during a press conference following a recent Cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç rejected that an official investigation into the “parallel state” was underway.

Source: Todays Zaman , May 16, 2014


Related News

Why was Mr. Gulen’s name brought up in the coup attempt in Turkey?

Fethullah Gulen: He (Mr. Erdogan) has always had a reaction to those who do not obey him since the beginning. As I previously expressed in other occasions, maybe, he was concealing some of his feelings.

Gulen-linked org’s statement on Turkish Govt’s arrest of pro-Kurdish Parliamentarians

AfSV Statement on Turkish Government’s Arrest of HDP Parliamentarians  Erdogan’s Persecutions Underscore Authoritarian Slide New York (November 9, 2016) – The Alliance for Shared Values is deeply concerned about the arrests of nine members of Turkish Parliament from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), including the party’s co-chairs Mr. Selahattin Demirtas and Ms. Figen Yuksekdag. […]

PM’s son: Dad, let’s initiate an operation against Hizmet’s senior members

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son Bilal allegedly urged his father to trigger an operation to detain prominent figures of the Hizmet movement in response to an ongoing graft and bribery investigation implicating Erdoğan, his family members and a number of ministers and businessmen close to him.

Turkey as a “serial” human rights derogator

The past couple of months have been tumultuous in Turkey. In short order, an ill-conceived military coup was followed by popular mass protest, the quick return of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to power, and a wave of repression ranging from military and judicial purges, to state restrictions on a panoply of basic human rights protections, to allegations of “widespread human rights abuses” by state actors.

Now it is time to answer

All Cemaat did was to oppose to the closing of test-preparation centers… The corruption investigation that erupted after, is billed to Cemaat by the PM himself.

Columnist sees Gülen ‘conspiracy’ in ruling against Israel

Presenting the Gülen movement as the architect of the court ruling may help the government deal with a possible backlash from families, the İHH — an outspoken supporter of the government’s Middle East policies — and a wider segment of its own voters who want Israeli officials to pay for the Mavi Marmara raid, in case a reconciliation deal with Israel goes into effect. Internationally, it may help the government deal with Israeli and Western criticism that it is not committed to reconciliation with Israel despite officially vowing that it is.

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

Grondahl: Turkish community strong in wake of threats from back home

Erdogan goes after Morocco’s Gulenists

Turkey’s New Anti-Americanism (NY Times Editorial)

The Anatolians are coming

Al-Jazeera: Turkish probe marks AKP-Gulen power struggle

Nine-year-old beats 25,000 others in Maths competition

Three political risks that Turkey might be exposed to

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News