Fethullah Gulen: Killing of Russian envoy ‘heinous act’
Date posted: December 19, 2016
U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen on Monday condemned the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey as a “heinous act of terror” and urged the Turkish government to identify anyone who aided the gunman.
Gulen’s written statement was issued after one of his advisers strongly denied allegations by an unnamed senior Turkish security official of “very strong signs” that the gunman who killed the ambassador belonged to Gulen’s movement.
Ankara has accused the cleric of instigating a failed coup in July and has cracked down on thousands of people it suspects of links to the Turkish Muslim cleric. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, denies any involvement.
“I condemn in the strongest terms this heinous act of terror,” Gulen said. “Turkish and international experts repeatedly have pointed out the deterioration of security and counter-terrorism efforts due to the Turkish government’s assigning hundreds of counter-terrorism police officers to unrelated posts, as well as the firing and imprisoning many others since 2014.”
(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Andrew Hay)
In a blunt violation of Turkish laws and ethical norms, authorities removed nearly 100 police chiefs, who were either involved in the graft raids or pose a possible risk to the government. Two additional prosecutors were appointed to supervise the case, a move mostly interpreted by experts as an attempt to control the judicial process. The government has launched an unprecedented witch-hunt in public institutions and continues to purge any bureaucrat it believes could be cooperative with prosecutors in the graft investigation. Four ministers whose names were linked to these investigations refused to step down despite calls from the opposition.
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