Pro-gov’t daily claims White House held special session on Gülen


Date posted: January 23, 2015

Pro-government Turkish daily Takvim claimed in a Friday report that the White House held a special session on Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who is based in the US, in September 2014.

The daily’s top story, titled “Gülen summit at White House,” claims that US Vice President Joe Biden headed the meeting, whose only topic was Gülen. The picture featured on the daily’s front cover is of Obama sitting at a desk, holding a file, with Gülen’s photograph Photoshopped onto the file and Biden Photoshopped standing next to Obama.

According to the story, the meeting attendees assessed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s demand for Gülen to be extradited to Turkey, though there is no convictions from any courts against the scholar. The daily claimed that Biden said in the White House meeting that the US needs the partnership of the Turkish government rather than that of Gülen. US President Barack Obama agreed with Biden on his view, according to the daily.

The daily claims a CIA report on Gülen led Obama and Biden to think that extraditing Gülen to Turkey would strengthen Erdoğan’s hand while weakening that of Washington, because the CIA’s study showed that the a majority of the Turkish public see Gülen as being linked to Israel and the US. The daily asserted that Obama and Biden have now agreed to deport Gülen to a third country, like Saudi Arabia, adding that Obama spoke to late Saudi King Abdullah in a September meeting about the idea, which the king did not reject.

Erdoğan, speaking on TV in March 2014, said that during a phone call with President Obama on Feb. 19 he had asked for Gülen to be extradited because he is a threat to Turkey’s national security. Erdoğan claimed that Obama had viewed this request “positively” and replied by saying, “I got the message.”

In March 2014, the White House had accused Erdoğan, who was the prime minister at the time, of misrepresenting the content of his phone conversation with Obama on Feb. 19 regarding the extradition of Gülen, who lives in Pennsylvania. “The response attributed to President Obama with regard to Mr. Gülen is not accurate,” the White House said in an e-mailed statement to various press organizations on March 9.

Gülen is in self-imposed exile in the US, though there is no legal hurdle preventing him from returning to Turkey. Shortly after he went to the US in 2000, he was charged with establishing an illegal organization in Turkey, but he was eventually acquitted in 2008. After a corruption and bribery investigation went public on Dec. 17 of last year, around 50 people were detained, including the sons of three ministers as well as businesspeople and bureaucrats. Allegations arose that several ministers were also implicated in the scandal. Shortly afterward, Erdoğan reassigned the prosecutors and thousands of police officers involved in the case, claiming that they were under the control of Gülen and trying to create a “state within a state.”

Source: Today's Zaman , January 23, 2015


Related News

28th Abant Meeting “Diverse Perspectives on Turkey” to be held in February 2013

Turkey’s foremost civil intellectual forum, Abant Platform‘s workshop on “Diverse Perspectives on Turkey,” will be held in February 8-10, 2013 in Abant, Bolu. The Abant Platform is founded as an intellectual forum by the Journalists and Writers Foundation to promote democratic engagement for expanding social consensus and the coexistence of society’s rich cultural resources within […]

Turkey has not achieved enough democratization for Fethullah Gülen’s return

Kenan Taş Mustafa Yesil: “The possible tension between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Gülen movement is what the pro-guardianship figures desire most. Moreover, it should be recalled how satisfied they were during the constitutional and presidential election crises in 2007 and the AK Party closure case in 2008. Turkey is passing […]

Turkey’s Erdogan exploiting failed coup to crush dissent, tighten grip on power

After a searing summer that has already featured a failed military coup, spectacular terrorist attacks and now a new war across the border in Syria, Turkey’s cultural elite is watching with increased unease as authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rides a wave of nationalism that they fear will be used to brand his critics as enemies of the state.

Three political risks that Turkey might be exposed to

Economic indicators in Turkey cannot bear the political risk anymore. The currency rates go up whenever President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan makes a statement. Before the elections I had warned that Erdoğan’s election victory would bring instability, but nobody believed this. There are now three major fields of conflict and uncertainty before Turkey.

Erdoğan’s harsh, xenophobic rhetoric damages fight against Islamophobia

The increasingly punitive and xenophobic discourse adopted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in recent years has done a huge disservice to the fight against Islamophobia, dealing a blow to the decades-long efforts of organizations such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Hizmet movement in international forums.

Erdoğan: Our people will punish Gülenists in the streets if they ever get out of jail

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a public speech on Wednesday that if people affiliated with Turkey’s Gülen group are released from prison after completing their prison terms, the Turkish public will “punish them in the streets.”

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 Movement and Fethullah Gulen inspire uniting people around spiritual ideals’

Turkish cabinet member Bayraktar: Turkish schools abroad will be appreciated better in the future

Has Turkey arrested Christian to exchange for Fethullah Gülen?

The Gulen Movement teaches providing service and being tolerant

Prof. İzzettin Doğan: Ramadan is opportunity to get to know Islam

Kimse Yok Mu medical volunteers in the Philippines

Reconsidering Gender Equality and Peaceful Societies

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News