Cleric’s Lawyers Want US Suit Backed by Turkey Tossed

Turkish Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is pictured at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pa. Gulen is charged in Turkey with plotting to overthrow the government in a case his supporters call politically motivated. (AP Photo/Selahattin Sevi)
Turkish Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is pictured at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pa. Gulen is charged in Turkey with plotting to overthrow the government in a case his supporters call politically motivated. (AP Photo/Selahattin Sevi)


Date posted: February 5, 2016

MICHAEL RUBINKAM

Attorneys for a reclusive Muslim cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania asked a federal judge late Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit that claims he orchestrated human rights abuses in his native Turkey, denouncing it as “pure political theater” by the Turkish government.

Turkey is believed to be funding the U.S. civil suit against Fethullah Gulen as part of a crackdown on the cleric and his movement by President Recep Erdogan.

The suit contends Gulen ordered sympathetic police, prosecutors and judges in Turkey to target members of a rival spiritual movement critical of his teachings.

His lawyers called it a baseless accusation.

“This lawsuit is pure political theater and a misuse of American judicial resources. It is the brainchild of the Turkish government and part of a broad campaign to silence Mr. Gulen, one of the strongest voices for peace and moderation in the Muslim world,” the attorneys said in a filing Wednesday night.

They added: “The spy thriller allegations as they pertain to Mr. Gulen are pure nonsense.”

Gulen, who has lived in the United States since 1999, has criticized Erdogan, his onetime ally, over the Turkish leader’s increasingly authoritarian rule.

The suit was filed in December on behalf of three men who claim Gulen sympathizers in Turkish law enforcement planted evidence, fabricated search warrants, conducted illegal wiretaps and ultimately arrested and detained the men on trumped-up charges.

It was filed by lawyer Robert Amsterdam six weeks after the Turkish government hired him to conduct a “global investigation” of Gulen, an Islamic moderate with as many as 4 million followers worldwide.

Amsterdam said in a statement Wednesday that “the public is entitled to learn both the international scope and reach of the Gulen organization, which is headquartered in the United States, as well as the type of contemptible conduct in which the organization is willing to engage.”

The suit is part of a broad campaign against Gulen’s movement in Turkey and abroad. The Erdogan regime has carried out a purge of civil servants suspected of ties to the movement, seized businesses and closed some media organizations. Gulen has been charged criminally with plotting to overthrow the government, and was placed on trial in absentia last month.

With the backing of the Turkish government, Amsterdam also has focused on a network of about 150 publicly funded U.S. charter schools started by Gulen’s followers. State and federal authorities have probed some of the schools amid allegations of financial mismanagement and visa fraud, though no criminal charges have been filed.

Amsterdam filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a building contractor that worked for the Gulen-inspired Harmony chain of charter schools in Texas, asserting the company failed to produce contracts and other documents he sought under the state’s open-records law.

Source: ABC News , February 3, 2016


Related News

Gülen: Society not divided into Kemalists, Muslims in Turkey

“We can neither talk about two dissociated groups such as Kemalists or Muslims in Turkey, nor we can talk about a ‘divide’ that is impossible to fill. We are heirs of an ‘empire’ society, which possesses characteristics of a mosaic.

London newspaper forced to shut as Erdogan allies seek vengeance

A Turkish opposition newspaper in Britain has been forced to close and its journalists have gone into hiding as supporters of President Erdogan unleash a campaign of intimidation against exiles.

GYV condemns Suruç attack, calls for measures against terror threats

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) has strongly condemned what it called “a nefarious attack” near the Syrian border that killed at least 31 people, calling on authorities to take urgent steps to prevent such terrorist attacks.

Evolution of the Gulen [Hizmet] Movement

HizmetNews.COM  November  14, 2012 Members of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) gathered in Washington DC for a follow up discussion on the Gulen Movement on October 19, 2012. The group’s director Dr. Bulent Aliriza hosted the discussion… and said that the Gulen movement, perhaps more than any other in overall Turkish picture, […]

AK Party VP Sahin: We can only be grateful to Hizmet people

Vice President of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Mehmet Ali Şahin remarked on the relations between AK Party and the Hizmet Movement (Gulen movement) in an interview*. Şahin said, “Is it possible for us to have any issue with the people performing such activities? We can be only grateful to them. We […]

RTÜK fines Samanyolu for news about boy named after Gülen

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) fined Samanyolu TV on Sunday for running a news story about a student named Fethullah Gülen who prepared for the Transition to Higher Education Examination (YGS) with the Hizmet-affiliated Körfez University Preparation School in İzmir. RTÜK said broadcasting the name of a student along with the school’s name […]

Latest News

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

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Turkey: Democracy in peril – A human rights report

Turkey: Effort to Force Closure of Gülen Schools Falling Flat in Eurasia

You Cannot Understand the Servants!

Gülen’s lawyer denies Turkish schools working against host nations

Kyrgyz court overturns extradition of suspected Gülenists to Turkey

Abundant accusations [against Hizmet], little evidence

Turkey to bid farewell to rule of law if president approves HSYK law

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News