Fethullah Gulen’s “old friend” detained by İzmir police despite suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s disease


Date posted: January 23, 2020

An 81-year-old Turkish man, who is known as a “longtime friend of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, was detained by police in the Turkish province of İzmir on Monday due to his links to the Gülen group.

According to the Gulen-friendly tr724 news website, Yusuf Pekmezci, who suffers from advenced Alzheimer’s disease, high blood pressure and osteoporosis, was in hiding for three years.

He is currenlty being held in police custody.

Pekmezci came to public attention with a 2014 interview he gave in which he talked about his love for the movement and Fethullah Gülen.

Source: Turkey Purge , January 22, 2020


Related News

Yamanlar College student wins gold medal in int’l computer project competition

Mustafa Ege Şeker, a student of Yamanlar College in İzmir, has won a gold medal with a computer project he made for the 14th InfoMatrix International Computer Project Competition.

Turkey- the state versus the people

Using the failed military coup attempt on July 15 as a pretext, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan orchestrated a huge purge of more than 100,000 people from the civil service without bothering to implement administrative or judicial investigations.

GYV’s dialogue center not returned despite court order

Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) officials were forced to leave its affiliate Intercultural Dialogue Center (KADIM) office in the Eyüp district of İstanbul despite a court order ruling that GYV could return to the premises after the dialogue center was unlawfully evacuated by municipal police on Dec. 26, 2014.

Turkish charities ready to deliver aid during Eid al-Adha

Various Turkish charity organizations have wrapped up their preparations to deliver aid, including sacrificial meat and other forms of assistance, to people in need across Turkey and around the world during Eid al-Adha, an Islamic holiday celebrated by millions around the globe. Turkish charities are especially busy during the Eid al-Adha season, collecting money and sacrificing animals, packaging the meat and distributing it to the less fortunate.

‘I don’t have a home right now’: Turkish NBA player Enes Kanter talks activism, basketball

“I don’t have a home right now,” Kanter told CBC News Network’s Steve Niles on Tuesday. “If I was anywhere else besides in America, besides Canada, yes, I believe my life could be in danger because I get death threats almost every day [from] Erdogan’s goons.

The Gülen community and the AKP

TAHA AKYOL The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), which is in line with Fethullah Gülen, has issued an announcement on relations with the ruling party. It is certain that Gülen made the last retouches on the text himself. Gülen defines the movement shortly as “Hizmet” (translated roughly as “service” in English). I asked those who […]

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

Deviation, crisis and opportunities…

An ‘impossible’ choice: Leave 5-year-old son in foster care or risk being tortured

London newspaper forced to shut as Erdogan allies seek vengeance

Turkish PM Erdoğan’s way worries and puzzles

Parents of Afghan-Turk school students vow to defend school in Mazar-e Sharif to the end

Gülen to file lawsuit against PM Erdoğan over defamation campaign

Gülen calls for broadening freedoms, improvement in Kurdish rights

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News