‘Parallel’ inspection launched against prominent Jewish-Turkish businessman İshak Alaton

İshak Alaton. (Photo: Today's Zaman)
İshak Alaton. (Photo: Today's Zaman)


Date posted: September 21, 2015

The Bureau for Crimes against the Constitutional Order of the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an inspection of the companies run by Alarko Holding’s executive board chairman and prominent Jewish Turkish businessman İshak Alaton on charges of supporting the so-called “parallel state,” a daily reported on Tuesday.

The term “parallel state” or “structure” is generally used by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his associates in the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to refer to the Gülen movement, or Hizmet movement, inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Erdoğan began using the phrase after a corruption scandal involving members of his family and inner circle within the AK Party went public on Dec. 17, 2013. He claims members of a “parallel structure” within the state organized the graft probe in an effort to overthrow the AK Party government.

The Sözcü daily’s report revealed that the bureau launched the inspection into Alaton after Doğan Kasadolu, a former senior executive at Alarko Holding, filed a criminal complaint against him, alleging that he admits his involvement in the parallel state in a biography titled “Lüzumsuz Adam” (Non-essential Man), written by Mehmet Gündem in 2013.

According to Sözcü, the inspection, which began a year ago and has only now been revealed, might lead to an investigation, as the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office did not issue an accompanying verdict of non-prosecution.

Kasadolu claims Alaton expresses support in the book for Turkish schools established abroad by educators inspired by the Gülen movement, in a chapter where Alaton tells the story of the establishment of a school in Moscow and relates his response to a question asked by Russian officials about the Gülen movement and schools.

The Gülen movement, which deals mainly in education and interfaith dialogue in Turkey and around the world, was known to once be supportive of the AK Party, especially during its first two terms, as the ruling party carefully guided the country from the grip of military tutelage and nudged it toward increasingly democratic rule and the values of the European Union. However, ties between the AK Party and the civil society organization were all but destroyed after the December 2013 graft investigation. Many believe Erdoğan is targeting the Gülen movement by accusing it of forming a “parallel structure” to shift focus away from the graft allegations.

Kasadolu claims Garih murder investigation obstructed by Alaton, contradicting earlier remarks

The Sözcü story also reveals that Alaton might also be charged with obstructing the investigation into the 2001 murder of Üzeyir Garih, the founder of Alarko Holding. According to Kasadolu, Alaton, with help from members of the “parallel state” in the judiciary, prevented prosecutors from thoroughly investigating the murder.

Garih was found murdered in a Muslim cemetery in İstanbul’s Eyüp district in August 2001. Yener Yermez, the main suspect, was sentenced to life without parole in 2003 by the Eyüp 2nd High Criminal Court. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeals in October of the same year, but the organization that planned the murder was never exposed.

However, during an interview with the Yeni Şafak daily in 2008, Kasadolu claimed the Ergenekon clandestine network may have carried out the murder, and was ready to testify as a witness when the network was on trial. “On the day of the murder, individuals in police uniforms kidnapped Garih’s grandson and threatened the family, warning it not to dig too far into the assassination,” he said during the interview.

Members of Ergenekon were nested within the state hierarchy and tried for murders and destroying the public order ultimately aimed at overthrowing the government. In July 2008, the Garih murder was included in the Ergenekon indictment. Nearly 300 defendants in the Ergenekon trial, including former army officers and a former chief of General Staff, were convicted by a court in August 2014 and handed down heavy sentences, including life imprisonment. However, all convicted were acquitted by another court in 2014.

Source: Today's Zaman


Related News

Kimse Yok Mu delegation visited the President of Somalia

Kimse Yok Mu delegation and Turkish parliamentarians went to Mogadishu, the capital, within the scope of Kimse Yok Mu’s sacrifice festival (Eid al-Adha) organization and visited Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and Parliament Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari. Somali President Sheikh Mohamud accepted in his office Vice President of Kimse Yok Mu Celal Türkoğlu, İstanbul deputies Muhammet […]

Turkey wants NBA star jailed for insulting President Erdogan

A Turkish prosecutor asked for NBA’s New York Knicks star Enes Kanter to be jailed for up to four years for insulting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the state-run news agency Anadolu reported on Wednesday.

‘Fethullah Gulen Might Return to Turkey on This Condition’

Will Fethullah Gulen, who currently resides in the US, return to Turkey? One active figure of the Hizmet movement, Cemal Usak, who serves as the Vice President of the Journalists and Writers Foundation, answered this highly speculated question. Vice President of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF), Cemal Usak, stated that Gulen may return to […]

Embrace Relief headed down to Haiti to help orphanages

Embrace Relief distributed clothing and food to approximately 40 children. The first orphanage was fortunate enough to have a water well and electricity in one of the bedrooms for the orphans, however, the children had very little in terms of clothing, shoes and sustainable food.

Fethullah Gülen lost his friend Prof. Toktamış Ateş, an academic, writer, and eminent democrat

HizmetNews.COM January 20, 2013 Turkish Professor Toktamış Ateş, also a columnist with the Bugün daily, passed away on Saturday January 19, 2013. Fethullah Gülen expressed his condolences in a statement he released the same day, describing Prof. Ateş an exemplary democrat in academia and media. Fethullah Gülen: I am deeply saddened to learn about the […]

Fatih University wins European Universities Championship

The Fatih University basketball team has won the 13th European Universities Basketball Championship, which took place in Slovenia.

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

Gülen endorses reform package, appealing for ‘yes’ on Sept. 12 referendum

Turkey fails to channel money into industry: TUSKON

Would you buy me a pair of eyes on Valentine’s Day?

Turkish schools abroad victims of AKP-Gulen conflict

Woman dismissed from job because she had surgery at hospital targeted by gov’t

Nigeria Turkish College to Host Language, Culture Festival

US high school students visit Turkey, give glowing reviews

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News