Fethullah Gülen’s Lawyers: Gülen Movement Has No Link With Zarrab Case In US


Date posted: November 29, 2017

The lawyers of US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen said on Tuesday that the Gülen movement has no link to the case of Iranian-Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab in the US.

In a statement from @fgulenav Twitter account on Tuesday, Gülen’s lawyers has said that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government under the rule of Turkish autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and news reports in the pro-Erdoğan media aim at associating the Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab case carried out by the US Federal Judiciary to the Gülen movement.

Gülen’s lawyers said that “Gülen movement is a civic movement that embraces universal human values and the rule of law, and its sole attitude regarding the judicial process in Turkey or any country in the world, is demanding a trial according to the Universal Declaration and the European Convention on Human Rights. Apart from that, there cannot be any expectation or request.”

Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader whose prosecution in Manhattan has drawn sharp criticism from President Erdoğan, has pleaded guilty and has been cooperating with the American authorities, a federal prosecutor disclosed in court on Tuesday, according to a report by the New York Times.

Zarrab was the prime suspect in a major corruption investigation, which had also incriminated the his cabinet ministers and President Erdoğan’s family members, became public in December 17/25, 2013.  Turkish prosecutors accused Zarrab and high-ranking Turkish officials of involvement in facilitating Iranian money transfers via gold smuggling, leaked documents at the time showed.

President Erdoğan, then prime minister, cast that investigation as a coup attempt orchestrated by his political enemies. Several Turkish prosecutors were removed from the case, police investigators were reassigned, and the investigation was later dropped.

However, 9 people including Zarrab, Turkey’s Halkbank Deputy General Manager Mehmet Hakan Atilla, Turkish Economy Minister Mehmet Zafer Çağlayan and former Halkbank General Manager Süleyman Aslan have been criminally charged with conspiring to violate US sanctions on Iran in the case in New York.

Source: Stockholm Center for Freedom , November 28, 2017

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Reach of Turkey’s Erdoğan spreading like fungus across U.S. – analysis

“Erdoğan’s regime is increasingly using connections with domestic-based U.S. Islamist groups, like Muslim American Society (MAS), Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) to exert political influence in the United States,” Anne-Christine Hoff, Dallas associate of the activist group Counter Islamist Grid, said in American Thinker on Sunday.

Pro-gov’t daily repeats Bharara controlled by Gülen movement, calls him ‘stupid’

One of the staunchly pro-government newspapers in Turkey, the Star, daily has repeated earlier claims about a US attorney, saying that he is controlled by the faith-based Gülen movement and “stupid.”

Erdogan Delivers Ultimatum: Washington Has to Choose Between Gulen and Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the United States must make a choice between Ankara and a movement led by US-based dissident Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Ankara has accused Gulen and his followers of playing a key role in the July 15 attempted coup, which claimed lives of over 240 people.

Gülen’s lawyer issues written warning to pro-gov’t media outlets

Nurullah Albayrak, the lawyer representing Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, on Thursday issued a written warning to pro-government media outlets on social media for their persistent use of the expressions “parallel structure” — a term invented by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to refer to followers of the Hizmet movement — and “Fethullah Gülen terrorist organization” — referred to in the dailies as FETÖ — on the grounds that they are making baseless claims regarding the faith-based movement.

Construction of Turkish hospital in Haiti begins

Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There), a Turkish charitable association, has laid the foundation for a 46-bed hospital in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince’s Croix-des-Bouquets district, which has a population of 500,000. An estimated 200,000 people died in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, in January when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck. Hunger […]

Connecticut chapter of Peace Islands Institute promotes peace by bringing people together

Erdogdu is director of the Connecticut chapter of Peace Islands Institute, an organization founded “to facilitate a forum of mutual respect and collaboration, both welcoming and accepting varied viewpoints and voices,” according to its mission statement.

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

Bringing Peace While Breaking Fasts

The Guardian view on Turkey’s repression: stop this stalemate

Gulen-linked org’s statement on Turkish Govt’s arrest of pro-Kurdish Parliamentarians

Ishak Alaton praises Turkish schools abroad

Dialogue advocacy group ‘disturbed’ by Erdoğan’s harassment of Hizmet

‘We won’t stop the witch-hunt’ AKP parliamentary group deputy chair says

A Mother and Son Flee Istanbul for San Antonio

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News