French court punishes death threats, attacks against Gülen sympathizers


Date posted: December 22, 2016

Following attacks and threats against Gülen movement sympathizers by Turks across Europe, a French court has handed down verdicts punishing two men for vandalizing an educational institution and sending death threats, the TR724 news portal reported on Friday.

After President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan mobilized citizens at home and abroad against the Gülen movement in the wake of a failed coup on July 15, labeling its sympathizers “terrorists’ and ‘traitors,” hate speech and criminal incidents targeting the movement took place in several European countries.

A man known only by the initials M.Y., who several times attacked educational and cultural centers managed by Gülen movement sympathizers, claimed that he was threatened by somebody who came to a mosque run by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), the overseas arm of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate. However, the judge sentenced M.Y. to four months’ imprisonment, four months’ probation and 23,000 euros for the damage he caused.

Another man referred to the initials O.K. sent death threats to Gülen movement sympathizer M.K. on July 16 and 17, saying that people who kill people like M.K. would be rewarded both by the state and by God. He also told the Gülen sympathizer not to feel safe just because he lives in Europe.

Although O.K. insisted that somebody else had used his phone to send the texts, he was given a four months suspended sentence.

In September, President Erdoğan said, “No country, no region anywhere in the world, is a safe haven for FETÖ [an acronym the government has been using to refer to the Gülen movement] and militants,” during a press conference in İstanbul, in addition to his regular targeting of Gülen sympathizers.

Source: Turkish Minute , December 16, 2014


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.

Ethiopian schools linked to Turkish cleric are sold to German educators

A network of schools in Ethiopia linked to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen is changing ownership. The sale of the Nejashi Ethio-Turkish International Schools follows pressure from the government of Turkish President Erdogan, who is urging countries that host institutions inspired by Gulen to close or take them over.

Turkish woman returned to prison immediately after giving birth

Yasemin Baltacı, who was arrested over her alleged links to the Gülen movement just two weeks before the end of her pregnancy, was reportedly returned to Manisa Prison immediately after giving birth in a hospital in Tarsus on Saturday.

Turkey – Baby with Down syndrome suffers major health problems in absence of jailed parents

A 15-month-old baby with Down syndrome, Ayşe Sena Bunlu, has been suffering from serious health problems ever since her parents, both of whom are police officers, were purged from their posts and jailed in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, according to a story in the Tr724 news portal on Friday.

Man dies of heart attack while on way to help Turkish refugees in Greece

A 43-year-old Turkish man has died of heart attack while on a charity trip for Turkish asylum claimants in Greece. Hasan Degirmenci suffered a heart attack at the house of a Turkish [refugee] family in Athens and was subsequently taken to a nearby hospital where he later died.

Turkey’s Ankara Mayor Gökçek Hints ‘Genocide’ For Followers Of Gülen Movement

Melih Gökçek, the mayor of Turkey’s capital city Ankara, has hinted a kind of “genocide” for alleged members of faith-based Gülen movement in an interview. He said that “Completely annihilating Gülen movement in Turkey will take our 10 year. In order to finish them completely we need to transform whole generation.

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

Turkish Cultural Center Brooklyn Honors Borough’s Elected Officials

Turkey’s Gulen crackdown hits Canada

Hizmet movement rejects claim of forming political party

Anti-democratic practices after graft probe reminiscent of Feb. 28 era

The 14th Annual International Language and Culture Festival

Pro-gov’t media knows no limits in ’parallel’ claims

Dozens take to Parliament Hill to protest Turkish human rights violations

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News