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

OKC Thunder’s Enes Kanter laughs off being called a terrorist by Turkish government

OKC Thunder center Enes Kanter has been accused in Turkey of being a terrorist and has a warrant out for his arrest, according to a report from a pro-government Turkish newspaper.

Gülen’s latest book launch celebrated at İstanbul forum

Journalists, politicians and writers gathered together for a forum in İstanbul on Tuesday to mark the launch of renowned Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s latest book, “Yaşatma İdeali,” (The Ideal to Let Others Live). The event, organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), was held at the Ceylan Intercontinental Hotel. Among the participants of the […]

The anti-thesis of radical Islam

The Hizmet movement is Turkey’s strongest civil Islamic movement, and it can employ social dynamics to resist the AK Party. The race for the local polls slated for March 30 is between the AK Party and the Hizmet movement, not between the AK Party and other political parties.

Overshadowing the graft probe

Erdoğan’s government has removed around 113 police chiefs from their posts in a major overhaul and issued a decree that dealt a serious blow to judicial independence since the operation, which targeted some members of his inner circle, was initiated on Dec. 17. All these draconian measures taken by the government are intended to prevent the police and judiciary from carrying out criminal investigations without the government’s — i.e., the executive’s — knowledge.

Political predictions for 2014

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is getting lonelier and this makes him more ill-tempered. There are two big risk areas for Erdoğan. One of them is the total war he declared against the Gülen movement for no apparent reason.

US professor urges Washington not to extradite Gülen to Turkey

An American professor from Columbia University has urged Washington not to extradite Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen to Turkey, noting that attacks on Gülen are part of a pattern to silence dissent.

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

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

Compensation case filed against Erdoğan for targeting Gülen-inspired schools

State Department: US concerned by rhetoric from Turkey on Russian envoy killing

What to know about the group Erdogan is blaming for Turkey’s coup

Warriors of enlightenment: pen versus bullet

Senegal minister: Turkish schools’ students our hope for the future

Turkish businessmen’s helping hands reach out to Romanian flood victims

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News