Detained Turkish Journalists Follow Teachings of US-based Preacher


Date posted: December 19, 2014

JEROME SOCOLOVSKY

When around 20 journalists in Turkey from the Zaman newspaper and Samanyolu TV were detained earlier this week because of ties to a U.S.-based Turkish preacher, a supposedly official arrest list that included additional names was circulated via Twitter.

At the time, Kerim Balci of the Zaman-affiliated Turkish Review was flying to the U.S. for a previously-scheduled conference.

“When I stepped down to Chicago I started receiving messages from my friends all over the world who said, ‘We saw your name on the list of people to be arrested.’ ‘We are praying for you.’ And so on,” he told VOA.

The government’s raids on opposition media have sparked international condemnation and are being seen as an effort to undermine a religious movement led by preacher Fethullah Gulen. Gulen lives in near seclusion in the U.S. but has a vast following in Turkey.

Gulen’s “Hizmet” movement is based on a religiously conservative view of Islam, as is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, and Gulen initially joined the man who is now president in opposing Turkey’s previous secular establishment.

But in the past year Hizmet sympathizers have accused the president of authoritarianism, and objected in particular to foreign policies supportive of Islamists in the Middle East such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

One year ago, a corruption investigation implicated the President’s family and inner circle.

Kerim Balci said journalists who support Gulen have been aggressively reporting on Erdogan because his words and actions tarnished all Muslims.

“If you are using the language of Islam and then if you are a corrupt person, you are actually corrupting my religion, and I have all the right to say, ‘Stop! This is not religion. This is not Islam,’” Balci added.

Erdogan denies the corruption allegations and has described them as the work of a “parallel state.” After this week raids, he issued a veiled threat against Gulen’s supporters.

“Those who try to get involved in dirty business and dirty relations with the hope of returning Turkey to its old days should realize that they will not be successful and give up as soon as possible,” the president said.

Since 1999, Gulen has lived at a retreat in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains.

“He has very poor health,” said Turkish-American businessman Alp Aslandogan, a close associate who spent time with the preacher several days ago.

Despite the events in Turkey, Aslandogan said Gulen kept to his routine, for the most part.

“He spends quite a bit of his time in personal supplications, quranic recitation, editing his works that are to be published,” Asladogan said, “He’s praying a lot these days.”

On Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki expressed concern about the detentions. “As Turkey’s friend and NATO ally, we urge the Turkish authorities to ensure their actions uphold Turkey’s core values and democratic foundations.”

However, she declined to answer a Turkish journalist’s question focused on Gulen, whom Turkey wants the U.S. government to extradite.


*Jerome Socolovsky is the award-winning religion correspondent for the Voice of America, based in Washington. He reports on the rapidly changing faith landscape of the United States, including interfaith issues, secularization and non-affiliation trends and the growth of immigrant congregations.

 

Source: Voice of America , December 17, 2014


Related News

US Sees No Need to Choose Between Partnership With Turkey, Gulen Extradition

The United States does not need to choose between its alliance with Turkey and the extradition of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, US Department of State spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said in a briefing on Thursday.

Flautre: Investigation into Taraf daily, journalist over MGK docs ‘scandalous’

Hélène Flautre, the co-chairwoman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, has described the launch of an investigation into the Taraf daily and journalist Mehmet Baransu for publishing records of controversial National Security Council (MGK) documents as being “scandalous” and “inappropriate,” adding that she has serious concerns about freedom of the press in Turkey.

Prosecutor says he was blocked from investigating new graft probe

After the [Turkish] government took a new graft probe from prosecutor Muammer Akkaş – a move that could further cast a shadow over the corruption investigation – he told media that the case was taken from him without any reasons being cited, effectively blocking him from doing his job. “All my colleagues and the public should know that I have been prevented from doing my duty,” the prosecutor said in a statement sent to media outlets on Thursday.

The AK Party versus the Gülen Community

MUSTAFA AKYOL These days, the hottest topic in Turkey is the growing tension between the AKP (Justice and Development Party) government and the Fethullah Gülen Movement, a powerful Islamic community with millions of followers and a large civil society presence. In fact, these two powerful forces, “the party” and the “the community,” used to be […]

Pro-gov’t dailies call Japanese foundation ‘parallel’ to denigrate award for Gülen

Several pro-government dailies have run stories with far-fetched allegations that a prestigious peace award was presented to Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen thanks to the sponsorship of a “parallel” — a defamatory term invented by the ruling party to describe Gülen and his sympathizers — foundation, even though the organization was founded in Japan.

Chestnut Retreat Center offers a look inside their Saylorsburg facility and its mission

“CRC envisions a society in which everybody is respected for who they are, people live in peace, everybody is included, the poor and needy are taken care of, and people of different background(s) can have friendly conversations in peace,” Ak said. “CRC believes in the importance of celebrating the commonalities and respecting differences.

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

ECtHR urges Albania not to deport Gülen follower to Turkey

Erdoğan rewards the killers of Gülenists

Gulen has ‘no intention of leaving the US’

Yalçınbayır: Turkey has tendency towards institutionalization of bribery, corruption

Explained the secret: Gulen gave it as a gift

RTÜK suspends 20 SHaber TV shows, harshest penalty of all times

Fethullah Gülen in the Wikileaks Documents

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News