Erdogan regime keeps defamation of the Gülen mov’t, calls it crusader organization


Date posted: October 17, 2016

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chairman Yasin Aktay has said the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Gülen movement are crusader organizations that are serving the same purpose.

Speaking with the heads of human rights and civil society organizations in Diyarbakır on Sunday, Aktay said there is a ready audience in Europe who will buy every terrorist act of the PKK as an act in the struggle for independence and freedom.

“The West is ready to buy every absurd act of these [PKK, ISIL and FETÖ] organizations. This does not show that they are right. To the contrary, it shows that the West is collaborating with them,” Aktay said.

He also added that “it is obvious today that the PKK, Daesh [Arabic acronym of ISIL] and FETÖ are crusader organizations. They don’t serve the purposes they publicize, but serve a common purpose.”

While the PKK and ISIL are internationally recognized terrorist organization, the Gülen movement, a faith-based civil society movement inspired by the views of US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who the AKP government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accuse of masterminding a failed coup on July 15, is the only organization whose sympathizers are facing widespread crackdowns, discrimination and detentions since it was framed as a terrorist organization by the government in May 2016.

Underlining that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had requested Turkey’s support when ISIL invaded Mosul in June 2014, Aktay said it is meaningful that today Abadi does not want a Turkish presence in Iraq, which could change the demographics of the region in a way that Turkey would never accept.

Aktay had previously admitted that intercepted Turkish intelligence trucks, which were stopped by the gendarmerie in Adana province in January 2014 while allegedly carrying arms to ISIL, were heading for Islamic groups in northern Syria, including the Free Syrian Army.

Following Aktay’s remarks, President Erdoğan’s spokesman İbrahim Kalın denied that Turkey had ever provided weapons to anyone in Syria.

Source: Turkish Minute , October 17, 2016

Tags: | |


Related News

Alevis voice unease over lack of promised rights at Abant meeting

Alevis have expressed at Abant meeting their uneasiness over pro-government comments claiming that the Gezi Park protests were an “Alevi uprising,” warning against a “dangerous approach that encourages wrong perceptions.” The title of this year’s Abant Platform, which started on Dec. 13, was “Alevis and Sunnis: Searching for Peace and a Future Together.” It was organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), a group affiliated with the Gülen Movement.

Investigation into journalist over MGK, MİT revelations blow to free press

A prompt investigation launched against journalist Mehmet Baransu for reporting on a confidential National Security Council document that mentioned a planned crackdown on faith-based groups in the country has been met with harsh criticism by Turkish and foreign journalist associations. “It is the responsibility of a journalist to report on issues that directly concern the people,” stated Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon, when speaking to the Cihan news agency.

The hype about the Gülen Movement

Mustafa AKYOL Recently, there was a long New York Times story about the matter, which quoted a Turkish journalist who believed that Gülen followers “have proliferated within the police and the judiciary, working behind the scenes to become one of Turkey’s most powerful political forces.” So, as another Turkish journalist, let me also tell you […]

Offensive launched against Hizmet-affiliated schools in Antalya

The Antalya Metropolitan Municipality, which earlier changed the zoning plans of schools in the province affiliated with the faith-based Hizmet movement in compliance with a call made by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in June, is to make a final decision on the fate of the schools following deliberation by the municipal commission on zoning and public works.

Erdogan is transforming Turkey into a totalitarian prison

In Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the tweet has been turned into a crime, and a troubled democracy is being turned into a dictatorship. Gradually but inexorably, a nation that once aspired to be an exemplar of enlightened moderation is being transformed by Mr. Erdogan into a dreary totalitarian prison.

Dangerous and unnecessary tension

MARKAR ESAYAN Turkey has been experiencing heated tension over the prep school issue for a while. And unfortunately, the discussion was taken out of the educational context and has become a political issue. The Taraf daily, in its recent reports and with the official documents it published, argued that the Justice and Development Party (AK […]

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Mueller Probes Flynn’s Role in Alleged Plan to Deliver Gulen to Turkey

Canadian rights advocate says Turkey’s post-coup crackdown amounts to genocide

Turkey has not achieved enough democratization for Fethullah Gülen’s return

Erdoğan escalates elimination of Gülenists from state [ with no proof of accusations]

What I Saw In Turkey

Gülen discounts neither past nor modernity

Germany informs Gülen sympathizers about Turkish Intel surveillance

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News