Stuttgart police: ‘Boycotts of Gülen-friendly shops are potential hate crimes’


Date posted: August 31, 2016

Chris Cottrell

Police in Germany are investigating whether calls to boycott shops owned by supporters of the self-exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen constitute hate crimes. There are currently 15 open investigations.

Police in the southern German city of Stuttgart said Wednesday they were investigating calls to avoid patronizing Gülen-friendly stores, shops and restaurants as potential hate crimes.

A spokesman told DW that all of the 15 open investigations were against unknown perpetrators, as most of the calls to boycott alleged Gülenists were made anonymously over social media or mobile chat apps.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vociferously accused Gülen, who lives in the United States, of orchestrating the unsuccessful putsch that left more than 300 people dead on July 15.

Erdogan’s words have echoed abroad, notably in Germany, where loyalists to the president have shared lists of businesses they say should be avoided. Earlier this month, a German newspaper reported that some shops and people had even been singled out during sermons at mosques.

The anti-Gülenist sentiment has at times escalated into physical violence. A youth center in the western city of Gelsenkirchen was vandalized and at least one person was accosted by a mob outside.

The police spokesman in Stuttgart, Jens Lauer, said investigators were reviewing who initiated the boycott lists as well as who forwarded them to other people. It is unclear whether disseminating the lists, in addition to starting them, would also be considered a hate crime.

 

Source: Deutsche Welle , August 31, 2016


Related News

AK Party gov’t treats critical letters, columns as ‘treachery’

In an attempt to defame the Hizmet movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, the Turkish government and its media outlets have presented letters sent by civil society representatives affiliated with the faith-based movement to foreign officials providing them with information about the situation in Turkey as “treachery.”

Eid al-Adha in Rio

The most effective and profound actor in this acquaintance process, on the other hand, has been without a doubt the Hizmet Movement inspired by the Honorable Fethullah Gulen’s teachings. I can list the movement’s initiatives in Brazil as follows: Its affiliated school “Colegio Belo Futuro Internacional” has been offering Portuguese-English bilingual education in the country since its establishment in 2007.

Extradite Gülen? Really?

Enter the current coup plot. Erdogan literally has blamed every obstacle, fanciful plot, and malfeasance upon the elderly cleric. He fingered him in last Friday’s attempted coup even before the smoke settled. Increasingly, it seems the Obama administration might actually take the Turkish president seriously.

Arresting police to make Erdoğan happy

It is no secret that under the direction of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan police officers who conducted graft operations against his close associates have been detained.

A study tour of Turkey with Gulen movement

Dr. Tariq Rahman May 24, 2012 The hospitality of Turkey, more precisely the Gulen Movement (aka Hizmet movement), started in Pakistan in the form of a call by Harun Koken who looks after the Turkish schools in Pakistan, the Rumi circle and a number of other educational activities in Pakistan. He gave me a book entitled The […]

Dr. Ergil answers 100 questions about Fethullah Gülen and his movement

MURAT TOKAY Professor Doğu Ergil, a distinguished political scientist, has completed his two-and-a-half-year study on the volunteer movement inspired by Fethullah Gülen, a preacher, prolific writer and advocate of interfaith and intercultural dialogue. Titled “100 Soruda Fethullah Gülen ve Hareketi” (Fethullah Gülen and His Movement in 100 Questions) (Timaş Publishing House), Ergil’s book dissects the […]

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

How can a government allow damaging their very own successful educational system to please another country?

Erdogan’s diplomats have become ‘Gulenist-busters’

Putting Foolish Labels: “Gulen Charter Schools”

President Obama sends message to Gulen-inspired International Cultural Festival

Erdoğan now at odds with once-closest ally

Kimse Yok Mu gives away meat aid to six thousand Afghan families

Gülen’s lawyers file civil suit and criminal complaints against Prime Minister Davutoğlu

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News