UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing on Gülen and the Hizmet Movement


Date posted: December 6, 2016

Foreign Affairs Committee Inquiry into UK’s relations with Turkey: hearing session on on Gülen and the Hizmet

The UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee is examining the bilateral relationship between the UK and Turkey, focusing on rights and freedoms as well as how Turkish foreign and security policies relate to those of the UK. The inquiry is ongoing. The Committee inquiry will cover topics such as the current state of UK-Turkey relations, and the FCO’s recent record in managing this relationship; the status in Turkey of the rights and values supported by the FCO, including freedom of speech and assembly, minority rights, and the status of democracy; Turkey’s aspirations to join the EU and how that is impacted by Brexit; Turkey’s foreign and security policies in the Middle East, and how these correspond with FCO policies in the region; Turkey’s policies towards different Kurdish groups, both with Turkey itself and the wider region; and Turkey’s role as a NATO partner to the UK, including its capabilities in the fight against ISIL. The Committee will also consider recent developments in Turkey such as the failed coup of July 2016 and the declaration of a state of emergency, which gives President Erdogan enhanced powers for an additional three months, which has implications for Turkey’s democracy and human rights. Since the Turkish government have sought to justify their crackdown on human rights and democracy on the pretext of eradicating the Fethullah Gülen-inspired Hizmet movement, the Committee invited participants of the Hizmet movement in the US and UK to address the allegations. The following hearing is the outcome of this invitation. Written evidence was also submitted to the Committee before this oral hearing and can be accessed here.

The hearing was held on Tuesday, 15 November 2016 and without the intermissions, lasted 1:07 hr. The witnesses were: Dr Yüksel Alp Aslandoğan, Executive Director, Alliance for Shared Values, and Mr Özcan Keleş, Chairman, Dialogue Society.

For the original source please click visit: Parliament Live Tv

Source: Youtube , December 1, 2016

Tags: | | | | | | |


Related News

Nigeria: Our students in Turkey

Nigerian students studying in Turkey have been detained in airports after being interrogated like criminals. About 50 of them were detained in Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport for 11 hours; some were deported, even though they were bona fide students who were yet to complete their studies.

Being the conscience of a nation

Fethullah Gulen’s brother Hasbi Gulen, who passed away last October, wanted to visit his older brother in America in late 2000. He shares his intention with a friend before applying for a visa.
His friend told him that he needed to prove financial ability to support himself in the US to obtain a visa. Hasbi Gulen needed to show car and home titles, tax returns, and any other assets he had. When his friend asked “which one of these documents do you have?” Fethullah Gulen’s brother replied “nothing but my birth certificate.”

[Hizmet’s] Prep schools and civilized debate

The prep-school debate has recently revisited Turkey’s agenda after periodically ebbing and flowing since the 1980s. For some time, the government has been mulling its plan to transform the prep schools. However, when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that they would shut down the prep schools, tensions skyrocketed.

Individuals can force change

Instead of Erdoğan’s accusations that the Hizmet movement had plotted to unseat his government, couldn’t it have been a handful of good men and women within the bureaucracy, i.e., the judiciary and the police, who leaked the investigation documents on Dec. 17 to the public to prevent these crimes from being covered up?

Opposition deputy: Police detain one more woman shortly after delivery

B.Ö., a Turkish woman who gave birth on Thursday in the Turkish province of Adana, was detained ealy later the same day over alleged links to Turkey’s Gülen group. Sezgin Tanrıkulu, a Turkish deputy from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has called on Turkish authorities to stop the practice of detaining women hours after giving birth.

Turkey’s failed coup has spread to the classroom in EU states

What really annoyed the Dutch government, however, was when the Turkish consul general sent a letter to local authorities in the Netherlands advising them how to curb public protests opposing the government in Ankara. That brought a coldly dismissive response from foreign minister, Bert Koenders: “The Netherlands deals with Dutch society and that has nothing to do with the Turkish government.”

Latest News

Sacramento leaders gather for Iftar dinner in celebration of Ramadan

SEO Skill Suite: Tools for Keyword Research, Technical & Backlink Analysis

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

In Case You Missed It

A day of joy for five hundred Albanian orphans

Reach of Turkey’s Erdoğan spreading like fungus across U.S. – analysis

Senegalese PM Addresses Gulen Movement Conference in Dakar

Albanian Speaker of the Parliament: Schools of “Gulen” Movement will not be closed

Is there anybody there for Kimse Yok Mu?

Media Imposes Official Ideology, Creating Negative non-Muslim Image

Talking with the “Religious Terrorist” that Turkey Wants Trump to Extradite

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News