Dialogue Platform’s Statement on Developments in Turkey
Fethullah Gülen (Photo: herkul.org)
Date posted: July 16, 2016
Dialogue Platform which is connected with Gulen’s mouvement Hizmet, in a Statement denied any involvment in Turkey’s coup.
The Statement says:
“Our Honorary President Fethullah Gulen has consistently advocated for democracy and insisted “there is no return from the democracy” at every stage of his life.
Hizmet participants have always denounced the military interventions and demonstrated the attitude for the peaceful coexistence, freedom and democracy. Thus, Dialogue Platform strongly condemns any attempt to throw an elected government by military coup.
We have always supported development of Turkey’s democracy and its membership to European Union despite of the increasing anti-democratic practices in recent years.
President Erdogan and his close circles’ blame on the Hizmet Movement is very irresponsible and concerning.
We hope that Turkey will overcome these difficult days and take this sad incident as an opportunity to strengthen its democracy.”
Communists in Cold War, reactionaries in Feb. 28 coup and Gülenists in Erdoğan era
It is useful to make a point here: Is it not true that some civil servants and officers, including prosecutors, judges, police officers, district governors and governors, are members of the Gülen movement? Of course it’s true. But is that a crime? No, it is not. People cannot be blamed for their beliefs, thoughts, identities or colors. They cannot be discriminated against because of such characteristics.
Gülen’s lawyer refutes Erdoğan’s claims as baseless
Nurullah Albayrak, the lawyer of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, has denied President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s accusations against his client, saying the president has misrepresented the claims included in a recently unveiled indictment on a bugging scandal.
The tragic end of the witch hunt
Several claims and accusations have been voiced, and the Hizmet movement has been described as a gang and a “parallel structure,” Are these accusations based on concrete evidence? No. Fabricated news published by pro-government media outlets, unfounded accusations and slanderous claims that are legally null and void have been refuted one by one. However, the pro-government media does not care about this, since they do not care in the least about rights or the rule of law.
Gulen: Dervish of our times
Why it is that Gulen, despite having been rated by the Foreign Policy Prospect as one of the highly acclaimed 100 top intellectuals of the world is still a lesser known public figure in the Muslim world. It may be because of his low profile and a moderate Turkish version of Islam.
Fethullah Gulen: “If the allegations are proved, I agree to return to Turkey”
If some were under the influence of interventionist culture of the army and preferred to trample the values of Hizmet with this reflex – which I do not think – their sins can not be attributed to all supporters of the movement. May God punish them. Nobody, including me, is above the law. I wish that all perpetrators, regardless of their affiliation, are sentenced to what they deserve through fair trial.
The witch-hunt reaches Turkey’s media
“If this is a witch-hunt, yes, we will carry out this witch-hunt,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a few months ago to confront criticism that his government has gone too far in removing police officers and prosecutors who carried out a corruption investigation against his ministers and son.
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