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

İP leader Doğu Perinçek. (Photo: Cihan)
İP leader Doğu Perinçek. (Photo: Cihan)


Date posted: January 8, 2016

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.

In an interview with Turkish news portal Haberdar on Tuesday, Perinçek openly acknowledged his involvement in the escalating government witch hunt against the faith-based Gülen movement, popularly known as the Hizmet movement and inspired by the teachings of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

“He [Erdoğan] supports us. We are the ones who started this [witch hunt]. We have been fighting with the Gülen movement since the 1970s, not him. … The [Justice and Development Party] AK Party has now come to the same conclusion as us on the [Gülen] movement,” Perinçek stated.

Due to an AK Party government-backed law abolishing specially authorized courts (ÖYM) and reducing the maximum period of detention before a final verdict on an appeal to five years, Perinçek was released in 2014.

After his release he made many statements on various platforms, saying Turkey has turned into a country where “movements, mullahs and religious groups” are widespread and vowing “wipe them all out.”

Since Turkey’s largest corruption investigation was made public on Dec. 17, 2013, following police operations in the homes and offices of people from the inner circle of the AK Party, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AK Party leadership have accused sympathizers of the Gülen movement, especially those in the police forces and judiciary, of plotting to overthrow the government. The movement strongly rejects the allegations brought against it.

Since the scandal, a number of business groups, media outlets, aid organizations, civil society organizations, universities, private schools and prep schools that were established by people sympathetic to the Gülen movement have been targeted by government-orchestrated police raids and investigations.

Erdoğan openly announced on several occasions after December 2013 that he would carry out a “witch hunt” against everyone with links to the movement. He has also ordered officials in AK Party-run municipalities to seize land and buildings belonging to institutions that are linked to the Gülen movement by any means necessary.

Source: Today's Zaman , January 07, 2016


Related News

Abant talks on constitution

MERVE BÜŞRA ÖZTÜRK,  March 12, 2012 This year’s Abant Platform, held from March 9 to 11 in the northwestern province of Bolu, tackled the pressing issue of shaping Turkey’s new constitution. A broad range of intellectuals, lawyers, political leaders and journalists discussed the problematic areas of the constitutional drafting process. The new constitution, about which […]

520 children of imprisoned mothers growing up in jail, yet Turkey celebrates Children’s Day

As Turkey celebrated the 97th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Parliament and Children’s Day on April 23, at least 520 children with imprisoned mothers have been deprived of enjoying the day as they are obliged to grow up in jail.

Turkey’s Reichstag Fire

When tanks blocked bridges in the heart of Istanbul and F-16s bombed Turkey’s parliament in Ankara on July 15, Western diplomats were caught by surprise. So too were U.S. forces stationed at the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey. The U.S. intelligence community had not an inkling that anything was amiss until the troops started moving.

Pro-gov’t daily: Turkey, Russia could conduct joint operation to abduct Gülen

Turkey and Russia could carry out a joint operation to abduct US-based Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen to Turkey due to Gülen’s alleged role in the assassination of a Russian ambassador in December 2016 as well as a failed coup attempt in Turkey in July 2016, the pro-government Akşam daily reported.

Gulen-inspired school raided by Turkish diplomats, Turkish soldiers in Afghanistan

A group of Turkish diplomats led by Turkish Consul General Şevki Seçkin Alpay together with dozens of Turkish soldiers and Afghan military police officers raided an Afghan-Turk school in Mazar-e Sharif, northern Afghanistan, on Tuesday.

The AK Party versus the Gülen Community

MUSTAFA AKYOL These days, the hottest topic in Turkey is the growing tension between the AKP (Justice and Development Party) government and the Fethullah Gülen Movement, a powerful Islamic community with millions of followers and a large civil society presence. In fact, these two powerful forces, “the party” and the “the community,” used to be […]

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

Parents protest demolition of Fatih College wall

Kimse Yok Mu to distribute 90,000 food packages during Ramadan

What would Carl Schmitt say about Turkish politics today?

Students from Turkish Schools in Thailand Visited the Minister of Trade at His Home

Scholars stress need for dialogue, cooperation to solve global issues

Guinean MFA: Our People Fond of Turkish Schools

AKP official: Torture claims won’t be investigated if victims are Gülenists

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News