World’s oldest temple closed to visitors due to excavation team links with Gülen


Date posted: July 3, 2017

Gobekli Tepe, the world’s oldest temple at more than 11,000 years, has been closed to visitors for 15 months due to alleged links of the excavation team leader and sub-contractor to the faith-based Gülen movement, accused of orchestrating a failed coup attempt last July, the Evrensel daily reported on Monday.

According to the report, Gobekli Tepe, six miles from Şanlıurfa in southeastern Turkey, was closed to visitors in April 2016 due to the construction of protective roof coverings.

The ancient site was supposed to be reopened to visitors in December 2016 as specified in the construction contract.

Officials said the dismissal of Urfa Museum Director and former excavation leader Müslüm Ercan on allegations of links to the Gülen movement and the arrest of the sub-contracting firm manager as part of an investigation into the movement were the reasons for the delay in the reopening of the temple.

Travel agencies in the region are also disturbed at having to give a negative response for visits to local and international tourists.

The military coup attempt on July 15 killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the AKP government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

According to a report by the state-run Anadolu news agency on May 28, 154,694 individuals have been detained and 50,136 have been jailed due to alleged Gülen links since the failed coup attempt.

Source: Turkish Minute , July 3, 2017

Tags: | |


Related News

Turks Fleeing To Greece Find Mostly Warm Welcome, Despite History

Now, at least 1,000 Turkish citizens are seeking refuge in Greece, according to the refugee support nonprofit SolidarityNOW. It’s hard to pin down an exact number because not many have applied for asylum, says Antonis Spathis, a human rights lawyer in Thessaloniki. The Greek Asylum Service told NPR that 186 Turkish citizens applied for asylum in 2016 and noted there has been a “significant” increase in 2017.

Journalists seek asylum in Canada amid Turkish crackdown

Duncan Pike of the Toronto-based Canadian Journalists for Free Expression said the decline of press freedom in Turkey has been a growing concern as the Tayyip Erdogan regime continues to use the coup as a pretext to crack down on opposition critical of his government. “Reporters are stripped of press credentials. Publishing houses are closed down. Authors, journalists, teachers and academics are detained and investigated,” said Pike.

EU anti-terror chief: Gülen network not terrorist organization

The EU doesn’t believe Fethullah Gülen’s network is a terrorist organization and is not “likely to change its position soon,” the bloc’s counter-terrorism coordinator told Reuters in an interview published Thursday.

Gülen slams pro-gov’t media for disseminating lies and blasphemy

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen criticized on Monday the pro-government media in Turkey for spinning the truth and disseminating lies while trying to justify senior officials’ blasphemous remarks. In a speech published on herkul.org, Gülen said a true believer can never lie as lying is the characteristic of the non-believer.

TUSKON says 2 businessmen threatened members with ‘blacklisting’

Two Turkish businessmen from the Central Anatolian city of Konya have threatened a business confederation by telling it to “cut ties” with Turkey’s largest volunteer-based grassroots movement, the Hizmet movement, or be placed on a government blacklist of entrepreneurs affiliated with the movement, the head of the business confederation has said.

Deputy PM Bülent Arınç says row with Hizmet movement would do no good

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has commented for the first time on allegations that there are tensions between the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and the Hizmet movement, saying, “We don’t need to get into a verbal row that might hurt relations between the government and the movement; we don’t need it, it would hurt us.” He also said Erdoğan holds Gülen in esteem.

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

Domestic Violence and Smoking According to Gulen

For first time, Fethullah Gülen curses purge of police officials in emotional speech

Erdoğan threatens Kosovo PM: You will pay

“Like a Storm”: Deportations Stun Turks in Kosovo

Erdoğan’s AKP runs out of steam, then what?

Fethullah Gulen — A view from Israel

Kimse Yok Mu offers much-needed help in Gaza

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News