Outspoken lawyer barred from taking up Gulen-linked cases


Date posted: March 7, 2018

Outspoken lawyer Kemal Ucar has been restrained from taking up defending people suspected of ties to the Gulen movement.

On Thursday, the Istanbul-based lawyer, known for his critical statements concerning July 15, 2016 coup attempt cases, was detained due to what his colleagues say “occupational activities.”

Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office banned Ucar from taking up cases concerning people with ties to the movement, according to a notice issued by the prosecutor’s office on Monday.

Ucar was also removed from the existing cases in which he defends alleged Gulenists.

Five hundred seventy-two lawyers in Turkey have been arrested, 80 of whom have been convicted and sentenced to between four and 14 years in prison since July 2016, a recent report by the Arrested Lawyers Initiative has said.

Ucar, himself, feared arrest before the he was taken into police custody earlier this week.

“A prosecutor told me: ‘Kemal, you question military issues too much. You will be blacklisted as a lawyer for Fetö [a derogatory term for the Gülen movement].’ I said that ‘I am not [their lawyer]. Why would they arrest me?’ He said, ‘I’m not saying you’re a member of Fetö, but you shouldn’t be surprised if they arrest you.’ I said: ‘How can they do that?’ He took out his cell phone and said: ‘They can say that you use ByLock [a mobile phone application]. But I said that I don’t use ByLock. He said: ‘It’s not important. You will stay in prison six months, one year, and you will learn your lesson until you prove it’,” he earlier told a TV program.

Turkish authorities believe ByLock is a communication tool among followers of the Gülen movement, which is accused by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016, a claim the movement denies.

Ucar also said during another TV program that one of his clients, an air force pilot, was accused in a fake voice recording of bombing the Turkish Parliament even though he was not flying a jet at the time of the recording.

 

Source: Turkey Purge , March 7, 2018


Related News

Investigation into journalist over MGK, MİT revelations blow to free press

A prompt investigation launched against journalist Mehmet Baransu for reporting on a confidential National Security Council document that mentioned a planned crackdown on faith-based groups in the country has been met with harsh criticism by Turkish and foreign journalist associations. “It is the responsibility of a journalist to report on issues that directly concern the people,” stated Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon, when speaking to the Cihan news agency.

Erdoğan’s overarching purge is not a road accident

The purge of the Hizmet Movement is what the Kurdish question was to Kemalism, a necessary tool with which to construct a new national identity, a tool to silence those who question it, and to design a social and political system that will foster it. Unfortunately, Turkey has no chance of going back, even to its fragile and dysfunctional democracy, without this narrative being completely rejected.

RTÜK fines Samanyolu for news about boy named after Gülen

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) fined Samanyolu TV on Sunday for running a news story about a student named Fethullah Gülen who prepared for the Transition to Higher Education Examination (YGS) with the Hizmet-affiliated Körfez University Preparation School in İzmir. RTÜK said broadcasting the name of a student along with the school’s name […]

Hizmet movement rejects claim of forming political party

Hizmet says it is both practically and theoretically impossible to form a political party or to support a specific party, as it has volunteers from many different political ideologies. “This movement, which has no other goals than to serve humanity, would only advise its volunteers to form their political stances according to certain principles, like human rights, democracy, transparency, justice, pluralism, rule of law and freedom of expression and belief,” the statement said.

Report claims government categorized schools linked to Hizmet

The Turkish government classified, categorized and monitored a number of educational institutions in some way linked to Hizmet, a faith-based movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, until 2010, a Turkish daily reported on Sunday. “After statements confirmed the document, not only did I feel shattered, I am left speechless,” Gülen said.

Picture of Turkish president Erdogan as Hitler projected onto Berlin embassy

A picture of Turkish president Recep Erdoğan dressed as Hitler has been projected onto the walls of the country’s embassy in Berlin. ‘We as Germans know what happens in the early stages of a dictatorship’, the artists who projected the message have said.

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

Turkish Teachers In Kazakhstan Fear Going Home

Second alleged disappearance in a week: Philosophy teacher goes missing

America’s first Islamic university starts academic journey

Review of Walter Wagner’s Beginnings and Endings: Fethullah Gulen’s Vision for Today’s World

Imprisoned Gülen followers subject to rape, nail extraction, object insertion: lawyers association

Turkish school in Uganda challenges discrimination against albinos

A way to hide the truth: the Hizmet Movement

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News