‘Erdoğan has replaced 1980 coup generals’

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey / Photo: AP
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey / Photo: AP


Date posted: October 30, 2014

SERKAN SAĞLAM / ISTANBUL

Dr. Selim Kaptanoğlu, former Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) politician and former doctor of late iconic MHP leader Alparslan Türkeş, said on Tuesday that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has replaced the National Security Council (MGK) of the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup by amassing power.

Kaptanoğlu, a long-time deputy secretary-general of the MHP, also criticized Erdoğan’s effort to include the Hizmet movement, a grassroots religious and social movement, in the state’s so-called “red book,” which summarizes the threats against the state, saying such things took place during times of military coups to target the religious and nationalists in particular.

According to Kaptanoğlu, this is an attempt to include all political dissidents in the category of enemies. Should the MGK accept Erdoğan’s proposal to include the Hizmet movement to the list national threats, it will lose all credibility, Kaptanoğlu adds.

According to Kaptanoğlu, Erdoğan’s fight with Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen is personal. “What did the Gülen movement do? Are you going to call these people terrorists just because they went after thieves?”

Kaptanoğlu was dismissed from his position as a doctor in the military because he signed a report for Türkeş to be released from prison during the Sept. 12 military coup era. According to Kaptanoğlu, the era is now being repeated by means of a government that claims to be civilian and pious.

Referring to the excessive and repressive powers of the MGK in the post-1980 coup era, Kaptanoğlu says it is now Erdoğan who has taken over control of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. According to Kaptanoğlu, the media affiliated with the Hizmet movement is now the only one resisting the pressure of the government.

“Unfortunately Turkish people always side with the powerful, not with the right,” Kaptanoğlu said.

Closing down Turkish schools ‘treason’

Stating that Turkish schools around the world are realizing the dream of the late Türkeş and nationalists in Turkey, Kaptanoğlu said the government’s attempt to close down these schools is a great treason and anti-patriotic.

According to Kaptanoğlu, prep schools and the dormitories of the Hizmet movement in southeastern Turkey were closed down due to the agreement in Oslo conducted between the government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) because the Hizmet movement is considered an obstacle to the terrorists.

Source: Today's Zaman , October 29, 2014

Tags: | | |


Related News

Erdogan presses Kyrgyzstan for action against Gulen group

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday urged Kyrgyzstan to take stronger action against the group blamed for a failed 2016 coup, as new President Sooronbai Jeenbekov visited Ankara in a bid to ease tense ties.

Hizmet movement and perceptions

We are going through a very critical period. We need the common sense and support of all the precious members of the Hizmet movement as we have never needed them before. We must protect our democratic gains. I pen this article as a person who closely sided with the Hizmet movement during the attacks of Ergenekon — a clandestine organization nested within the state trying to overthrow or manipulate the democratically elected government — and the deep state, and who backed its justified objections to the government’s plan to shut down the prep schools.

Tables Have Turned for Some Media in Turkish Crackdown

Mr. Kenes says he should have been more outspoken in defense of fellow journalists when the government started targeting its critics more than a decade ago. “Frankly, we did not realize Mr. Erdogan’s real intentions,” said Mr. Kenes, who was convicted last year of insulting the president on Twitter and given a 21-month suspended prison sentence. “When I look at my history, I criticize myself for not showing more sympathy for their cases.”

Enes Kanter calls Turkey’s Erdoğan ‘Hitler of our century’ after airport detainment

Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter expressed his desire to become a US citizen and underscored a previous claim that Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the “Hitler of our century” on Monday in New York in his first comments since his detainment at a Romanian airport over the weekend.

Friends of Hrant slam gov’t attempt to associate Dink murder with Gülen movement

A group called Friends of Hrant Dink, including lawmakers and activists, has harshly criticized the government’s recent attempt to associate the Dink’s murder with the Gülen movement, inspired by the teachings of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, calling on authorities to expose the real criminals behind the murder.

Gülen says many would like to be in detained journalists’ shoes

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has said he believes many people, including he himself, would like to be in the shoes of Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı and Samanyolu Broadcasting Group General Manager Hidayet Karaca, who were detained in a police operation on Sunday, implying that it is an honor for the journalists to be in custody under Turkey’s current circumstances.

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

Gulen named author of the month in Casablanca

Journalist Dumanlı says slanders against Hizmet reminiscent of Feb. 28 era

Fethullah Gülen: Turkey is being dragged into a civil war

Minister’s remarks on Gülen cause AK Party members to resign

Turkish Islamic scholar Gülen loses 72-year-old brother

Turkish Day proclamation, celebration planned at Syracuse City Hall

The Preventive Role of Culture in Women’s Empowerment: Possibilities and Challenges

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News