Chief General Eduardo Año: We don’t consider Gulen movement a terror group


Date posted: July 18, 2017

Trisha Macas / Philippines

Armed Forces chief General Eduardo Año has confirmed that the movement linked to Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen is not labeled as a terror group.

Interviewed by reporters in Malacañang, Año said organizations in the Philippines linked to the Gulen movement have been helping people.

“Well, the Fethullah Gulen movement is—we do not consider that as a terrorist group. Right now, their activities here are helping the community,” he said.

The clarification was issued after Turkish Ambassador Esra Cankorur claimed that those groups work like sleeper cells.

“So probably iyong ambassador ng Turkey, may sarili siyang basis kung bakit niya sinabi iyan because—I think you know what happened in Turkey, there was an attempted coup and they believe this coup was staged or inspired by this Fethullah Gulen movement,” Año said.

“But that is an internal affair of Turkey. We do not want to be entangled with that,” he added.

Also on Tuesday, former Education Secretary and De La Salle Philippines president Bro. Armin Luisto and other religious groups expressed support to two non-government organizations being linked to terrorist organizations, noting the NGOs’ track records in peace-building.

“I have never had any reason to link their operations here with alleged terror groups locally as this would seem totally in conflict with their on-going advocacies and programs on peace-building,” Luistro said in a statement.

He was referring to Integrative Center for Alternative Development Foundation, Inc. (ICAD) and Pacific Dialogue Foundation, Inc. (PDF), which run the Filipino-Turkish Tolerance School in Zamboanga City and the Fountain International School in San Juan City, both of which were linked by Turkish Ambassador to the Philippines Esra Cankorur to the Fethullah Gulen Movement, a supposed terrorist organization.

Source: GMA News Online , July 18, 2017

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Turkey’s post-coup purges shake higher education

With the summer holiday almost over, computer science student Hande Tekiner should be gearing up for a year of cram sessions and late-night homework. Instead, she may have nowhere to return to, as her university was shut after Turkey’s failed coup.

Kimse Yok Mu conducts 500 cataract surgeries in Pakistan

Humanitarian aid organization Kimse Yok Mu? (Is Anybody There?) carried out 500 cataract surgeries in Pakistan, as part of its international campaigns to reach out economically disadvantaged people. Volunteers from the organization arrived in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in July for its campaign to perform cataract surgeries for 5,000 people in the country. So far, around 500 people have undergone surgeries, which bolstered ties between Turkey and Pakistan.

Whistleblower says gov’t preparing to close down Gülen-inspired schools

A government whistleblower has claimed the government is preparing to shut down schools believed to be close to the Gülen movement, a faith-based grassroots social initiative inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, in Turkey on the pretext that the schools are not being properly administered.

Erdogan’s Changing Aspirations for Somalia

Somalia has been one of the centers to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The East African country has been crumbled for long years by many inextricable catastrophes including famine, drought, militancy and instability.

GYV rejects claims that Hizmet movement dominates Turkey’s judiciary

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) has strongly criticized and denied news reports suggesting that the Hizmet movement, which is inspired by well-respected Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, dominates the judiciary and bureaucratic positions within the Turkish state, calling the claims groundless. The claims appeared at a time when prosecutors summed up their case in […]

Journalist: I was threatened over not supporting government

Seasoned journalist Cüneyt Özdemir has said he was threatened by two members of pro-government media outlets and pressured to jump on the bandwagon by lashing out at the Hizmet movement and hosting a commentator who Özdemir said is a staunch supporter of conspiracy theories.

Latest News

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

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

It is unfair, unjust and politically motivated to incriminate the Gulen Movement

CHP submits parliamentary question on anti-Hizmet plot

Abant Platform: perspectives on Turkey

Erdogan Budgets $150m To Displace Hizmet Schools In Africa

Today is another Human Rights Day, but atrocities persist | Opinion

US law professor: Erdoğan’s talk of Gülen extradition ‘foolishness’

Abduction of Kacmaz family – An act of high-handedness

Copyright 2024 Hizmet News