Bolu municipality builds road inside Hizmet affiliated Fatih College’s garden

Construction has begun on a road that will cut through the campus of Fatih College despite the presence of wide, open lots surrounding the school. (Photo: Today's Zaman)
Construction has begun on a road that will cut through the campus of Fatih College despite the presence of wide, open lots surrounding the school. (Photo: Today's Zaman)


Date posted: August 11, 2014

The Bolu Municipality, Turkey, having previously closed down two schools belonging to businesspeople affiliated with the faith-based Hizmet movement in early July, has now constructed a road inside the garden of Fatih College, a high school, despite the fact that the school is surrounded by empty plots of land and no residential area exists around the school.

Local residents, angered by the municipality’s arbitrary decision to construct an unnecessary road inside the college’s garden, called on the municipality to abandon the unreasonable decision and to spend tax-payers’ money on more appropriate projects. 

The municipality hung a sign in front of the sealed schools in July claiming that the buildings were not licensed and did not follow municipality-approved plans. Bolu Mayor Alaaddin Yılmaz argued that his municipality had to take action against unlicensed buildings and that the closures were not linked to a government policy against the Hizmet movement. 

However, the municipality’s latest move of constructing a road that no residents will able to use due to its location in the college’s garden has contradicted Yılmaz’s former statements, which claimed that there was no intimidation campaign against Hizmet-affiliated schools and institutions. 

When reporters, speaking on the decision to shut down the schools, asked whether the municipality’s decisions against the schools had any link to the government’s ongoing campaign against the Hizmet movement, the mayor said, “It would be wrong to perceive our decisions as a step against the Hizmet community.” 

 The closed schools are close to the Hizmet movement, which is inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused the Hizmet movement of being behind a massive corruption investigation that implicated members of his family, inner circle and four then-Cabinet ministers. He claims that the investigation was an attempt to overthrow his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, although the prime minister has not been able to produce any evidence to justify his claims. 

The municipality’s construction equipment first demolished the wall around the school and then started to construct a road in the middle of its garden. Without having informed the school authorities about the planned construction, the municipal workers also cut down the school’s basketball hoops, causing astonishment among the school’s management and staff as well as local people, who are not in need of such a road inside the school’s garden. 

In May, the prime minister publicly advised AK Party supporters not to send their children to schools affiliated with the Hizmet movement. “We will not even give water to them [Hizmet members],” he vowed. 

More recently, the prime minister ordered officials at AK Party-run municipalities to seize land and buildings belonging to the Hizmet movement by any means. 

The closure of two Hizmet-affiliated schools in Bolu in July followed similar moves in other parts of Turkey. In early June, the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality stopped the construction of an education complex on privately owned land on the pretext that the land would be used as a green area and meeting point in the event of an earthquake. The municipality, however, failed to obtain the required approval from other authorities in the province to halt the construction of the education complex. They said the complex belonged to Fetih Eğitim İşletmeleri (Fetih Educational Operations), which has close ties to the Hizmet movement. 

On April 21 of this year, municipal police sent by the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality blocked access to the building under construction, citing no justification. On June 6, the municipality took action to turn the land on which the education complex was being built into a green area and attempted to seize the land. For land to be turned into a green area, the municipality needs the approval of the İstanbul Waterworks Authority (İSKİ), the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Transportation Coordination Center (UKOME) and the Earthquake and Soil Inspection Directorate (DZİM). In the case of Fatih College, however, the municipality had not consulted with any of those institutions.

Speaking with Today’s Zaman about the municipality’s odd initiative to construct a road inside the college’s garden, Hakan Çakır, a parent of a student attending the college, criticized the municipality, saying: “It is very saddening to witness such intimidation, as the school has no intention but to serve students and give them a good education. It is a tragicomic incident. The road ends inside the school’s garden, it is a dead-end road. I am sure that even the workers who are taking part in the construction of the road have not constructed something like this before.”

The municipality, also in July, removed a sign advertising the Fem prep school in İstanbul’s Mecidiyeköy district, which helps students prepare for university entrance exams. The municipality claimed that the school had violated the municipality’s advertising regulations. The school, however, said the municipality had approved the advertisement, for which all taxes had already been paid. It also said the real reason behind the municipality’s decision was that Fem is affiliated with the Hizmet movement. The school filed a complaint against the municipality with the İstanbul Prosecutor’s Office, arguing that its advert had been removed for no apparent reason.

Source: Today's Zaman , August 10, 2014


Related News

Opinion: Does the Turkish Intelligence Agency Plan to Abduct Turkish Dissidents from the US?

When it comes to conducting abduction operations in the U.S. soil Erdogan regime may receive help from his new allies, Russia and Iran. It is a fact that Erdogan has a deeply seeded network of Muslim institutions inside the United States.

What does Turkey deserve?

Once the remaining human capital exits Turkey, the country will be left to bigoted seculars and even more bigoted political Islamists. Given the shameful silence and support for the worst witch-hunt the country has ever witnessed, maybe this is what Turkey deserves: swaying between secular authoritarianism and popular Islamist dictatorship.

Police waiting at hospital to detain İzmir woman after childbirth

Police are waiting at an İzmir hospital to detain Gülçin Çetinel, a Turkish woman who gave birth to her first baby early on Thursday, over alleged links to Turkey’s Gülen group.

Religious communities under threat in Turkey

These operations might have targeted the government in some respects, but so far no concrete evidence has been produced about deliberate, systematic and willful inclusion of the Hizmet movement in this plot. It is true that the Hizmet movement’s media group has been lending support to the graft and bribery investigation.

‘Hizmet conspiracy’ theories rejected at iftar hosted by Alevis

Participants of an iftar held by the Federation of Alevi-Bektaşi Associations under the theme “Solidarity in the light of the Quran” at the Renaissance Polat Hotel in İstanbul on Wednesday evening expressed their disbelief in the existence of any conspiracy prepared by the Hizmet movement.

VIDEO – Was July 15 Erdogan’s Reichstag Fire?

What really happened on the night of July 15, 2016 in Turkey? Why thousands of judges and prosecutors were the next day? Why hundreds of journalists were arrested and media outlets shut down after the coup attempt by Erdogan? Was the failed coup attempt Erdogan’s Reichstag Fire?

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

Hizmet and current political debates in Turkey

Georgia revokes decision to freeze Gulen-linked university’s student intake

‘Hizmet is a social movement worldwide, that has a heart, and it’s always from the heart.’

Turkey is gateway to Europe: exporters urged to collaborate with Turkish companies

Turkish President calls for calm as gov’t defuses tension with Gülen movement

Political raids targeting educational institutions a ‘hate crime’

Didier Reynders welcomes a delegation of young artist of the International Festival “Colors of the World” in the Egmont Palace

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News