When asked about the issue of Erdoğan’s survival, [CHP Istanbul deputy] Erdoğdu said: “The upcoming presidential election [which is scheduled for Aug. 10] is not the main part of this struggle. He might be elected president and elude the graft investigation. What about his son Bilal and other family members? How can they escape an investigation? The main battle is between Erdoğan and the Hizmet movement. That is why Erdoğan talks about eliminating the movement. He considers the matter a fight for survival.”
When the graft allegations first surfaced on Dec. 17 of last year, the government and its media did everything to undermine the reputation of the Hizmet movement. Even AK Party deputies who resigned because of increasingly anti-democratic practices became targets. The government’s ambition to finish off the Hizmet movement is still continuing, and Erdoğan has pledged to eliminate the movement.
Excerpted from the interview published on Today’s Zaman, 26 July 2014, Saturday
Gulen Movement, civilian governments and the AK Party
The Gulen movement’s understanding of politics and the political process differentiate it from the military and bureaucratic elite. Its main political objective is to transform society by raising the moral consciousness of individuals. By raising moral consciousness, the movement hopes to cleanse the bureaucracy of widespread corruption, increase the efficiency and transparency of state institutions, reinvigorate public work ethic to serve the people in order to enhance the legitimacy of the state, and create opportunity spaces for marginalized sectors of the Anatolian population.
The Coup Attempt – Turkey’s Reichstag Fire
Once forces loyal to Turkish President Erdogan had put the attempted takeover down, he called the coup attempt “a gift from God” because it provided an excuse to crack down on competitors and opponents. Using enemies lists prepared well in advance, his purges have touched more than 100,000 and sparked widespread conspiracies among Turks that the July 15 coup was Turkey’s equivalent of the Reichstag fire.
Two volunteers of Gülen Movement reportedly abducted after released by Azerbaijani Court
According to a report, Turkish citizens Ayhan Seferoğlu and Erdoğan Taylan were detained by Azeri police. However, an Azerbaijani court decided to release them. As their relatives were waiting Seferoğlu and Taylan to be free, they have reportedly been abducted by unidentified persons from the backdoor of the courthouse where they were tried.
Turkey shies away from legal measures to provide equal opportunity in education
The recent move to close down prep schools that serve to significantly boost equal opportunity in education may be seen as yet another failure to promote equality on the part of a government which has not yet ratified a UNESCO agreement to end discrimination in education.
Prime Minister Erdoğan in his second home
Apolitical faith-based movements, represented by the Sufi lodges and the Hizmet movement today, regard Iranian expansionism as a real and imminent threat that needs to be tackled.
Ministry allegedly profiled students of dershanes close to Hizmet
The petitions filed with the Ministry of Education and provincial educational branches in May 2012 by parents have revealed that the Education Ministry profiled students of dershanes — private institutes that offer examination prep classes — and schools close to the Hizmet movement.
Latest News
Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison
Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney
Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement
ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment
New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement
European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests
ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases
Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade
Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet
In Case You Missed It
Bulgarian producer introduces his fourth documentary on Fethullah Gulen
Turkish Cleric, Accused in Coup Plot, Calls Crackdown ‘Dark Pages’ in History
Hatred-inciting discourses and the debate on ‘genocide and crime against humanity’
Turkish businessmen have first iftar with Syrian refugees in Hatay
Fethullah Gülen’s Eid message: Let’s pray for each other
Ministerial bureaucrats being purged over their alleged affiliations with Hizmet
5 children abandoned in front of prison as mother detained
