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

Religious communities under threat in Turkey

These operations might have targeted the government in some respects, but so far no concrete evidence has been produced about deliberate, systematic and willful inclusion of the Hizmet movement in this plot. It is true that the Hizmet movement’s media group has been lending support to the graft and bribery investigation.

Gulen suspect testifies before US Congress on recent coup attempt

An alleged member of the Fetullah Gulen organization was invited on Wednesday to speak to a congressional panel on Turkey, a stunning move that could exacerbate tensions between Ankara and Washington. Ahmet Sait Yayla was added to the original list of speakers to address the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats.

Anti-democratic practices after graft probe reminiscent of Feb. 28 era

A number of anti-democratic moves that began after the launch of the corruption probe, including the reassignment of thousands of civil servants, including police officers and members of the judiciary, as well as discrimination against members of the faith-based Hizmet movement, are similar to the events of the Feb. 28 period.

US lawmaker says Gülen should not be extradited, calls his movement strongest element against radical Islamists

United States (US) Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, released a statement on Monday, saying that the US should turn down the Turkish president’s demand of the extradition of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen as he could not be part of a coup attempt, calling his movement “strongest element in his society opposing radical Islamist terrorism.”

Perinçek: I have Erdoğan’s support in fighting Gülen movement

Doğu Perinçek, the Workers’ Party (İP) leader who was given a life sentence in 2013 as part of a trial concerning the Ergenekon terrorist organization, has said he has been “fighting a battle” against the faith-based Gülen movement since the 1970s and that now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is supporting him and the İP in the fight.

Turkish Olympiads Cultural Festival attended by 3 million visitors in İzmir

Nearly 3 million people attended the Cultural Festival of the 11th International Turkish Olympiads, an event celebrating the Turkish language that will bring together 2,000 students from 140 countries this year. The event, which began on Friday, was held by the Turkish Education Association (TÜRKÇEDER) and attracted considerable interest from both visitors from İzmir and […]

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

Dozens of Dutch-Turkish businesses ‘threatened’ after failed coup

Jailed woman in hospital for delivery to be returned to jail with new-born

TUSKON execs in Ethiopia for trade talks

Conspiratorial minds, authoritarian politics

Second Turkish food and culture festival held in South Africa

Foreword to “The Gulen Movement: Civic Service without Borders”

2 Turkish teachers killed in Somali school bus attack

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News