Gülen makes application to top court over slanderous report


Date posted: May 21, 2014

ANKARA

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has made an individual application to the Constitutional Court for the removal of a slanderous report from a news portal on the grounds that the report violates his personal rights.The application was made by the scholar’s lawyer, Nurullah Albayrak.

The news report, published by www.medyagundem.com on March 25, claims that Gülen and some members of the faith-based Hizmet movement, which is inspired by Gülen, are threatening people with videos featuring those people having extramarital affairs. The report also refers to Hizmet members as Hashishin, a shadowy group that carried out politically motivated assassinations in the past. This reference to the Hizmet movement was first used by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in mid-January.

According to Albayrak, the report violates Gülen’s personal rights, incites people to hatred and enmity and violates the principle of presumption of innocence, which is enshrined in Article 38 of the Constitution.

Gülen’s lawyer initially applied to an Ankara court of peace to order the removal of the slanderous report. The court, however, said it would not, arguing that the report’s publication was within the scope of press freedom. The lawyer later applied to a court of first instance in Ankara to have the report removed. This court also turned down Albayrak’s application.

Albayrak then applied to the Constitutional Court on behalf of Gülen, arguing that they had exhausted all domestic procedures. “The report accuses my client of orchestrating an ‘operation’ against Turkey from abroad, even though there is no ongoing investigation into Gülen to this end. Claims included in the report violate Gülen’s individual rights, which are guaranteed by the Constitution. They also violate the principle of presumption of innocence,” the lawyer stated in his petition.

The lawyer also noted that a lower court’s decision that the slanderous report is protected by freedom of the press is not correct.

The report is only one example of a growing campaign of slander against Gülen. The scholar, who has inspired a worldwide religious network that defends peaceful coexistence through dialogue and education, is currently being targeted in a large-scale smear campaign, which is sponsored by the Turkish government.

Media organs close to the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government have been publishing stories stating that the scholar and his movement are part of a clandestine organization seeking to overthrow the government. Prime Minister Erdoğan and some officials from his government have raised similar claims and even insulted Gülen and the Hizmet movement. On various occasions the prime minister has called Gülen a “false prophet,” “fake saint” and “bogus scholar.” He has called the Hizmet movement a “parallel state,” “gang,” “illegal organization” and “raving Hashashins.”

A criminal investigation was launched into Gülen in late April. The investigation is based on allegations and news reports that the scholar attempted to overthrow the government, without facts or evidence. The investigation came shortly after Prime Minister Erdoğan publicly said that a formal process would be launched to make the US extradite Gülen. The scholar is in self-imposed exile in the US, though there is no legal hurdle preventing him from returning to Turkey.

The investigation into Gülen was initiated following a complaint filed by a former noncommissioned officer identified as C.O. The officer told the media in early May that his complaint against the scholar was based on a number of reports that had appeared in government newspapers. “I am basing my complaint on newspaper reports and my thoughts. I am unhappy. I do not want to be promoted in the media or become popular. I do not like things like this. I have also filed many criminal complaints against the prime minister,” he said.

Prosecutors have so far failed to take action on C.O.’s complaints against the prime minister.

Source: Todays Zaman , May 21, 2014


Related News

CHP asks gov’t about file allegedly targeting TUSKON

Complaints over the past month from the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) over increased political pressure and profiling of its members have now been conveyed to Parliament, with the CHP demanding a governmental explanation on the issue.

Unscrupulous news reporting by Der Spiegel

ABDULLAH BOZKURT Der Spiegel’s recent article titled, “Dangerous Friends: Power Struggle Splits Turkish Ruling Party,” by Hasnain Kazim and Maximilian Popp, is perhaps the best example of the way in which Der Spiegel misrepresents and unfairly presents the magazine’s biased view of the Gülen movement in Turkey. This unscrupulous news piece may only pass as […]

Erdoğan admits calling Habertürk executive to change reporting during Gezi protests

Erdoğan’s interference in a news channel’s reporting by instructing a top manager at the channel to immediately remove a news ticker, an act exposed by a voice recording, has been met with serious criticism from several political parties as well as society.

Erdoğan government opposes democratic values: detained Turkish journalist

The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is falsely accusing anybody that opposes it of treason, a prominent Turkish journalist currently detained in an Istanbul prison

Bittersweet joy for teachers amid prep schools conflict in Turkey

Zaman columnist Ali Ünal expresses how prep schools by the Hizmet movement were established under difficult circumstances under the leadership of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Preps schools prevent students from falling into bad habits by giving them both life and schools lesson at the same time at reasonable prices, writes Ünal.

The story of the government media’s smear campaign against Hizmet

The pro-government media — or more correctly the “government media,” as it has become apparent that they have been bought by businessmen under orders from the prime minister — has manufactured and published lies about the Hizmet movement, which has a four-decade proud history in Turkey, in an attempt to create the perception that it is a criminal organization.

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

Nigeria: Turkish international college constructs 90 hand pumps, boreholes in local communities

Fethullah Gulen’s interview with The Wall Street Journal

Afghan-Turk Teachers Call Their Extradition Illegal

Journalists and Writers Foundation to discuss girls’ education in Afghanistan

A peace and dialogue conference in Kyrgyzstan

Who is Fethullah Gulen?

Orange County’s Anatolian Festival: A Meeting of Worlds

Copyright 2024 Hizmet News