Defamation – Turkey’s Justice Minister: Gülen Followers Take Christian Names To Infiltrate Western States


Date posted: July 4, 2017

Turkey’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said on Monday that followers of Gülen movement, change their Turkish names in order to infiltrate into the institutions of the Western states.

Speaking with Milliyet daily on Monday, Bozdağ said Gülen movement followers take Christian names and show themselves as members of Christian society in order to infiltrate institutions of the Western states. Underlining that the group has been educating Americans in schools in the US and imposing the ideology of the movement, Bozdağ said “this terror group is a threat to Turkey’s national security as well as a threat to national security of yours (US).”

“F..Ö members change their Turkish names in US. They take Christian names, take different names and join into Christian groups as they are Christian converts in order to gain prestige and power from those groups. There are lots of similar cases in recent days. What I say now is that if you (Western world) don’t take the measures, similar to Turkey took against this group, they will betray you. Why not those who betray their own state and nation, will not betray US and the other states? … They might have simile [at me] saying ‘what is that this minister saying’, but probably they will have to take tougher measures [against Gülen followers] after 15-20 years,” he said.

Since the Turkish government launched a large-scale witch hunt against followers of faith-based Gülen movement, inspired by the views of US-based Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen, the movement has been scapegoated for anything that goes wrong in Turkey, and Gülen sympathizers have been alienated in public by the rhetoric used by ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) leaders and Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Despite Gülen and the movement having denied the accusations, Erdoğan and the government launched a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody. Over 138.000 people have been dismissed from their jobs, more than 106.000 were detained and nearly 53.000 jailed over alleged links to the movement.

Source: Stockholm Center for Freedom , July 3, 2017


Related News

Fethullah Gülen: Turkey coup may have been ‘staged’ by Erdoğan regime

Fethullah Gülen, the reclusive cleric blamed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the failed coup in Turkey, believes the uprising by members of the country’s military could have been “staged” by the government it aimed to overthrow.

Mother of 5 children abandoned in parking lot released on high bail

A Turkish court on Monday released a housewife, a mother of five whose children were abandoned in a parking lot after her detention, on TL 50,000 bail. This is a high figure in a country where the minimum wage is approximately TL 1,300. The woman will be put behind bars again if she fails to pay the bail within seven days.

Bediüzzaman on the Armenian issue

Question: Armenians are dhimmis. How can dhimmis be equal to Muslims? Answer: Let us not see ourselves in a magnifying mirror. We are to be blamed on this issue. We could not protect them as well as we should have; we failed to demonstrate the justice of Sharia. Because of the wrong practices of autocratic regime, we failed to protect their rights within the Sharia framework…

Report: Gülen-linked media outlets sold to pro-gov’t media groups without tender

A number of TV and radio stations that were closed down by the government in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15 due to their links to the faith-based Gülen movement have been sold to the pro-government Turkuvaz Media Group without a tender.

AK Party’s social media instructions to ministries raise questions of legality

The Taraf daily reported on the written instructions sent in an email to social media coordinators at government ministries by the AK Party’s media coordinator, Burak Gültekin. The email read as follows: “Dear ministry social media coordinator, Attached please see a note on prep schools…” The attachment included templates for tweets some of which include content teasing the Hizmet movement and the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Prof. İzzettin Doğan: Ramadan is opportunity to get to know Islam

Cem Foundation president, Alevite community leader Prof. İzzettin Doğan made an inspiring speech. He said that humanity does not know enough about Islam; Ramadan provides opportunity to get to know more about it. He further said Islam has the values that will protect Muslims as well as humanity. He also underlined the importance of bringing under the same roof people together that have differing opinions.

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

Minister thankful to Fethullah Gulen for backing the peace process

Erdogan’s Hate Speech against the Gulen Movement

Illegal raid against Bank Asya spells disaster for Turkey, says TUSKON head

Turkish school honored with state medal in Laos

TUSKON: Twitter ban a disappointment in information age

Islamic scholar Gülen rebukes ISIL over ‘brutal atrocities’

Hypocrisy in languages: criticizing Fethullah Gülen, English or Turkish?

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News