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

Are we to wait for our Fethullah Gulen?

Serhii LASHCHENKO The power of the Turkish philosopher is that he gradually managed to captivate hundreds of thousand of people with his ideas. How did he do that? Through schools. As a good gardener that created his bountiful garden for years and decades, Fethullah Gulen directed his pupils toward consecutive and persistent transmission of knowledge […]

Sacred, Secular, Twin Tolerations and the Hizmet Movement

Dr. Ihsan Yilmaz For me, the month of November is a month of conferences that I have to both endure but also enjoy. From New Orleans, I flew to Lahore to present a paper at another international conference titled “Ideal Human and Ideal Society in the Thoughts of M. Fethullah Gülen.” Scholars from many parts […]

Neither Erdoğan nor EU the same after five years

Erdoğan is going to Brussels as the prime minister of Turkey who doesn’t even have ambassadors in three of its region’s important capital; Cairo, Tel Aviv and Damascus. A negotiation chapter was opened in November 2013 after a three-year freeze. Erdoğan had to sack the former EU minister from the cabinet because of the allegations in relation with a major graft probe in December 2013 and appointed Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu to that post.

Turks Fleeing a Crackdown Find Haven in Albania

Dozens of Turks at risk at home from their affiliation with the man accused of mounting a failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have found haven in Albania. But ‘brotherly’ ties between Ankara and Tirana keep them on their toes.

‘Nigeria Moving Towards Peaceful, Happy Future’

Notwithstanding the series of conflicts in various parts of the country, there is a high hope that Nigeria is heading towards peace and a brighter future, Initiator of Hizmet Movement and foremost Turkey-based scholar, M. Fethullah Gulen, has declared. He disclosed this in a message to the Ufuk Dialogue’s 5th Dialogue and Peace Awards Ceremony, […]

Behind the war over prep schools [in Turkey]

Notably, all this comes while the tension between the government, especially Erdoğan himself, and the Gülen Movement is deepening. In fact, both groups form part of the “religious conservatives,” and used to be allies against the old secularist guard. However, their differences have become increasingly pronounced and have resulted recently in an increasingly bitter war of words.

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

Pak-Turk school teachers to be deported as Erdogan visits Pakistan

Turkish minister: Gülen movement is worse than Nazis

Gülen: Despite differences in method peace process in Kurdish issue should be supported

‘I wanted to die during torture’ – teacher speaks on 2016 coup arrest

Turkey’s Real Coup [by Erdogan] Has Begun

Poconos-Based Muslim Preacher Addresses Catholic-Muslim Dialogue Conference

Rising Value of Turkey: ‘The Gülen Movement’

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News