Prosecutor files criminal complaint against Gülen for seeking legal rights


Date posted: April 13, 2015

İZZETTİN ÇİÇEK / ANKARA

Ankara Public Prosecutor Cevat İşlek has filed a criminal complaint against Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen for seeking to bring a lawsuit against Akşam daily columnist Emin Pazarcı for insulting him.

Nurullah Albayrak, Gülen’s legal counsel, recently filed a criminal complaint against Pazarcı on the grounds that Pazarcı insulted and defamed Gülen in one of his columns. The Bakırköy Prosecutor’s Office considered the column to fall under freedom of expression. Albayrak filed an appeal to a court to overturn the prosecutor’s decision, but the court rejected the appeal.

After the appeal was rejected, Pazarcı then filed a criminal complaint against Gülen on the grounds that Gülen defamed him through the legal complaint. While the Bakırköy Prosecutor’s Office considered Pazarcı’s column to be under freedom of expression, Prosecutor İşlek prepared a three-page indictment defending Pazarcı’s claim. The prosecutor asked the court to punish Gülen.

After a corruption scandal erupted on Dec. 17, 2013, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and then-Prime Minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, of plotting against the government through the graft probe.

Erdoğan defined the members of the movement, which is inspired by the ideals of Gülen, of being a “parallel state” and launched a witch hunt against the movement after the probe.

Source: Today's Zaman

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Turkish police detain another woman shortly after caesarean delivery

A Turkish women, Nazlı N. Mert, who has just given birth to a baby in Ankara, was detained by police teams and transferred to police station with her newly-born baby on Saturday as part of post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement.

We must have more empathy for people fleeing for their lives around the world

No individual’s pain is to be underestimated. Thousands of families are being forced to leave their homeland by violence, terror, or fear of political prosecution. I would like to particularly talk about people of Turkey, who has been forced to leave their country since the Turkish Government ordered a massive witch hunt on members of the Hizmet (Gulen) movement after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt.

Gov’t discriminates against Hizmet-affiliated private schools

Some private schools affiliated with the Hizmet movement, a faith-based social movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, have been prevented from accessing government incentives. According to an official list published by the Education Ministry on Monday, many high-achieving private schools did not make the cut to be eligible for financial aid from the government.

Gulistan schools in Kosovo to continue education despite its abducted teachers

Gulistan Educational Institutions has declared that they will continue their activities despite their abducted teachers. 5 of their teachers were abducted by Turkish Intelligence Agency in cooperation with Kosovo’s intel agency, which shocked the global education community and protested in many countries including USA, Canada, and UK.

AFSV Condemns Erdoğan’s Persecution of the Hizmet Movement

The push by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the Prime Minister’s cabinet to designate the Hizmet movement — also known as the “Gülen movement” — as a terrorist organization only serves to further Erdoğan’s crackdown on dissent, civil society and the media.

Turkish NGO in Cambodia Denies Links to Terror

The Mekong Dialogue Institute (MDI), a Turkish NGO based in Phnom Penh, on Monday denied any links to terrorism, although the organization was inspired by Fethullah Gulen, the man accused by the Turkish government of being behind last month’s failed coup in Turkey.

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

European Parliament calls for fair trial of suspects arrested in anti-coup operations in Turkey

Canada grants asylum to eight Gulenists under UN protection in Mongolia

Fethullah Gülen: President Erdogan is suffering from power poisoning

White House praises Rumi Forum

PM’s order echoes 2004 MGK decision [to undermine the Gulen Movement]

Gülen’s lawyer says claims of luxury homes part of smear campaign

Turkish court rejects appeal to arrest Dumanlı

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News