Attacking the Journalists and Writers Foundation

Dr. Ihsan Yilmaz
Dr. Ihsan Yilmaz


Date posted: May 18, 2015

Last week, I wrote: “The AKP [Justice and Development Party] is planning to rig the elections by using state power. It is also trying to distort the real election agenda.

The Hizmet movement is a multi-task, multi-purpose tool for the AKP in this regard. The AKP only wants its voters to talk about ideological issues, not economic problems. Thus, it persists with its attacks on the Hizmet movement. Every day police officers attack offices of the movement’s civil society organizations. … To create the most impact, to steer the public away from talking about the opposition’s projects, the AKP may arrest hundreds of Hizmet volunteers, journalists, professors and civil activists of the Hizmet movement under terrorism and possibly even spying charges.”

Since I wrote those words, the pro-AKP media have launched a new campaign against one of Hizmet’s flagship organizations, the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV). Speaking on the A Haber television station, which is run by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law, three commentators talked about an influential opposition member of Parliament. They linked her influential opposition to the existence of a sex tape involving her. On the show, Cemil Barlas, the son of columnist Mehmet Barlas, said that Meral Akşener, a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy and a deputy parliament speaker, is a very active critic of the AKP and asks if the reason for this is the existence of a sex tape. Instead of asking Barlas more, the show’s moderator instantly turns to Latif Erdoğan ???WHO IS THIS??? and asks him if he knows anything about Akşener’s personality. It is obvious that they have planned this episode. Erdoğan is very firm and clear. He says Akşener does have a sex tape, which includes indecent scenes that do not befit a lady. The commentator urges Erdoğan to continue and he says the information is based on concrete evidence. He also says that Akşener has been threatened by the Hizmet movement, which he says prepared the tape to force Akşener to continue to criticize the AKP.

Erdoğan later changed his story and said he has never seen the tape and that it was doctored. He also said that GYV Chairman Mustafa Yeşil offered to give him the tape several years ago. Yeşil denied this vehemently and his lawyer has filed a lawsuit. Many people have asked Erdoğan why he has not done or said anything if has was offered such a satanic thing. He has no answers, only more lies.

Then, Daily Sabah, which is also run by Erdoğan’s son-in-law, kept publishing stories based on Cem Küçük’s allegations that the GYV is the cosmic center of Hizmet’s terrorist and tape activities. Küçük, a notorious pro-AKP columnist with alleged links to the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), had been writing that the GYV is a spy center and that Hizmet gives top secret documents of the Turkish state to visiting CIA, MOSSAD and other spies in the foundation’s buildings. Before last week, these claims only appeared in his column. But at the start of last week, this idea started spreading to become big news for the Erdoğanist media. Since Fethullah Gülen is the honorary chair of the foundation, it seems that Erdoğan now takes this issue seriously. I will not be surprised if hundreds of police officers raid the foundations’ offices.

I am also one of the foundation’s board members. And being in their top list of columnists alongside my boss, Bülent Keneş, I am a little concerned (but not afraid) that the AKP may try to imprison all of the foundation’s members. We shall see.

On a final note, the Sabah daily has written that prosecutors have now opened a lawsuit against GYV Chair Mustafa Yeşil. What a surprise! It is Latif Erdoğan, Cemil Barlas and A Haber who smeared Akşener, but it is Yeşil who has to prove that he has done nothing wrong! I suggest that they must also open a lawsuit against Akşener. No one would be surprised.

Source: Today's Zaman , May 15, 2015


Related News

Spy agency planning false-flag terror acts in crowded areas, whistleblower claims

A whistleblower who has a credible record of predicting police operations and government policies has made a surprising claim, arguing that the Turkish spy agency is planning to blow up crowded areas in order to frame the Gülen movement, a faith-based movement, as a terrorist organization.

Education Association Defends Zaman University

The Cambodian Higher Education Association (CHEA) released a statement on Saturday defending Zaman University against calls for its closure over alleged links to a group blamed for the failed coup in Turkey last month.

Public ad budget unfairly allocated to pro-gov’t media

Separate sources have suggested that several public institutions prefer pro-government dailies and TV stations over other media, an initiative that follows Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s statements about “the opposition that cooperates with an international conspiracy seeking to topple the government.”

Hizmet turns theories of Millennium Development Goals into practice

The 2015 Millennium Development Goals of the UN were discussed in the international panel, with participants agreeing that the goals can only be sustainably achieved through education.

Turkey After the July Coup Attempt – Alan Makovsky’s testimony before Committee on Foreign Affairs

The vastness and persistence of the purge of the civil service, arrests of journalists, and closure of media outlets—many seemingly having nothing whatsoever to do with the exiled Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen or his Gülenist movement that the Turkish government blames for the coup attempt.

Hong Kong Anatolia Cultural & Dialogue Centre, Photography Competition 2015

Harmony of Hong Kong in Your Frame Photo Contest is open to ALL photographers at least 18 years of age, except members and staff of Anatolia Cultural & Dialogue Centre and their immediate families. The contest is open to all Hong Kong residents regardless of citizenship, so long as the laws of their jurisdiction allow participation.

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

Kenya Embassy Donates Food & Warm Clothes to Syrian Refugees

Turkish court jails 17 housewives over alleged coup involvement

German Lawmakers Call for Probe on Imams Suspected of Spying for Turkey

Sacred, Secular, Twin Tolerations and the Hizmet Movement

Inside Turkey’s Purge

Cops vs. robbers [in Turkey]

Grondahl: Turkish community strong in wake of threats from back home

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News