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


Related News

Turkey post-coup purges convulse society

President Erdogan says the state of emergency might be needed for another year to crush the “terrorist” threat. More than 130 media outlets have been shut down, the pro-Kurdish IMC TV the latest victim. The authorities have started releasing 38,000 prisoners, to make way for the new arrests.

Kyrgyzstan: Antagonism Grows with Turkey Over Gülen Links

In the eyes of the government of Turkey, where Gülen is from, the sprawling building immaculately cast in the bright colors of the red Kyrgyz flag is little short of an incubator of terrorism and plots to subvert the state. Ankara’s antagonism to Gülen’s international influence has deep roots, and the Turkish government’s attempt to link the educator with the recent failed coup is intensifying that animosity. But Kyrgyzstan, which is host to at least a dozen Gülen-linked schools and one university, is holding its ground — up to a point.

Gülen’s lawyer denies Turkish schools working against host nations

Lawyer of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has categorically rejected claims made by the Turkish president that schools opened by sympathizers of the Gülen movement in Africa are working against host nations.

Germany: Turkish Intel’s spy list may be deliberate provocation

Germany’s interior minister said Thursday that Turkey’s intelligence agency may have given its German counterpart a list of suspected supporters of a U.S.-based cleric to “provoke us in some way.”

Associations, NGOs, banks launch aid campaigns for Soma victims

Many business associations, private banks, NGOs and football clubs have launched aid campaigns for families of the victims of the coal mining incident in Soma, where an explosion and fire killed at least 283 mineworkers.

Anonymous witnesses fail to identify suspects they earlier tipped off as Gulenist

An anonymous witness in Denizli failed to identify any of the 145 suspects, earlier accused of being followers of the Gulen movement, during a court hearing on Oct. 30. The judge in charge loudly read the names, however Aslan did not remember any of them. The judge asked: “Did you tip off about some names during your statement to the prosecutor, is that right?”

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

Turkey coup and Fethullah Gülen: Why blame a progressive Islamic modernist?

Gülen speaks to Kurdish paper, renews his support for education in mother tongue

Turkey after the purge: Journalists and judges pay the price

D.C. Group Holds Annual Peace and Dialogue Dinner in Albemarle

GYV discusses respect for sacred values at UN panel

White House courts int’l students as language festival concludes in DC

Serbian torture base now houses Turkish school

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News