Turkish army profiled Tahşiyeciler as serving al-Qaeda


Date posted: January 12, 2015

A new report uncovered from the Turkish General Staff reveals that the army had been in preparation to operate against the Tahşiyeciler group.

The 13 March 2009 report, prepared by Turkish General Staff Intelligence Unit Head, Lieutenant General Hakkı Pekin, reveals the Tahşiyeciler group’s ideology strongly aligned with al-Qaeda, viewing its leader Osama Bin Laden as Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam.

Members of the Tahşiyeciler group were arrested following a 2010 police operation which found hand grenades and guns along with pro-al-Qaeda propaganda.

On claims that the group suffered from defamation, raids were conducted in mid-December 2014 against the Zaman daily. The newspaper’s Chief Editor Ekrem Dumanlı was detained and Samanyolu Broadcast Group President Hidayet Karaca was arrested on dubious charges which were based entirely on a fictional TV show and a few press articles.

Islamic Scholar Fethullah Gülen was also subjected to a red notice over a 6 April 2009 sermon where he condemned the group. Charging the press, pro-government police has audaciously claimed that Gülen’s sermon was behind the operation against the group.

The recently discovered report proves that this scenario as implausible. The Turkish General Staff report dates from 13 March 2009, before Mr. Gülen’s 6 April 2009 sermon. Furthermore the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MİT) had also been tracking the group some years before.

Intricacies of the report

Group leader Mehmet Doğan and two prominent figures Mustafa Doğan and Mehmet Nuri Turan are all outlined for their sympathies with al-Qaeda.

The report states the following. “M. Doğan declares those who do not support al-Qaeda Munafiq” Munafiq is a term in Islam coined to describe those who outwardly practice Islam while actually not believing. The status is viewed as a significant sin in the religion.

“Mehmet Doğan and group members have full supportOsama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda” for “fighting against the infidels.”

The report also indicates that the Tahşiyeciler group views the Turkish state as “an infidel” which “will only be saved by a fight against it alongside al-Qaeda.”

Key group member Mehmet Nuri Turan is noted to have warm relations with other terrorist group’s such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Kongra-Gel and groups engaged in drug smuggling across Turkey.

Toxic phone recordings

The phone taps on the organization also underlines the severity of their ideology.

“The holy jihad goes through placing your index finger on the trigger of an automatic rifle; that’s the real jihad,” says suspect Faris Mağin speaking to another member.

And in a phone conversation on November 23, 2009 the group leader Mehmet Doğan preached “The religion without shedding blood and jihad is a falsified religion”.

Source: BGN News , January 9, 2015


Related News

Turkey’s Post-Coup Purge and Erdogan’s Private Army

A year later, Western intelligence officials and top Turkey analysts aren’t nearly so sure of Gulen’s complicity. Earlier this year, German spy chief Bruno Kahl revealed that Ankara has failed to convince the BND foreign intelligence agency that Gulen was behind the ill-planned and executed coup plot. “Turkey has tried to convince us of that at every level, but so far it has not succeeded,” Kahl told the German weekly Der Spiegel in March.

Erdoğan is helping Hizmet community in three ways

If President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had given an assurance to the world, saying, “The Hizmet movement never resorts to violence and it is an antidote to Islamist violence,” people would still have nurtured doubts and they still would have asked if they, like Islamists, would resort to violence under duress.

Think Twice on Turkey: Erdogan’s Purges Are a Warning to Washington

“Whatever the merits of the government’s claims about the movement’s role in the coup, which Gülen himself denies, the speed and scale of the dismissals make it clear that many of those affected by the purge are caught up in it not because there is clear evidence of their involvement in the coup but merely because of their perceived association with the Gülen movement.”

Lawyers for Gulen Call Flynn’s Comments ‘Troubling’

Gulen has never been charged with a crime in the U.S., and he has consistently denounced terrorism as well as the failed coup in Turkey. One of Gulen’s lawyers, Jason Weinstein, called Flynn’s comments about Gulen “troubling” but said the extradition process is a legal matter in the hands of the Department of Justice.

Erdoğan’s game plan for Hizmet

Erdogan may continue to demonize and even to try to criminalize the Hizmet movement in an effort to brainwash his people into believing that he is the only one who can save the nation. We will see if this brings him the additional votes he needs to be elected president.

Misrepresentation of Fethullah Gülen in English-language media

The language in general and the way certain politically significant words are used in some of this media coverage are somewhat problematic in the sense that they fail to present the full picture about Gülen, if not deliberately create doubts and prejudices about him.

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

Fethullah Gulen Criticizes the Da Vinci Code

Turkish PM Erdoğan lashes out at Gülen as the head of ‘neo-Ergenekon’

Turkish schools key to success in Africa

Erdogan’s critics in Germany living in fear of his long arm

Test of Turkish society

Is it civil disobedience or passive resistance?

Erdogan’s crackdown – Woman detained while showing newborn baby to jailed husband

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News