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

Tags: Human rights | Persecution of Hizmet by Erdogan | Turkey |

Related News

Ceremony canceled after Gülen’s relative wins short film contest

The award ceremony of a short film contest organized by the Ministry of Education has been canceled after the contest was won by Seleme Gülen, a relative of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, whose ideas inspired the faith-based Hizmet movement.

Turkish gov’t profiling went on until 2013, report claims

The Turkish government profiled a large number of individuals whom it believed to be followers of certain religious and faith-based groups and monitored their activities up until 2013, a Turkish daily reported on Monday. According to the report, the profiling of individuals did not end in 2010 as previously claimed, but it continued between 2011 […]

Turkey’s president orders closure of 1,000 private schools linked to Gülen

Turkey’s president has signed a decree that allows for the extension of the pre-charge detention period and the closure of institutions linked to Fethullah Gülen, the exiled cleric blamed for masterminding last weekend’s failed military coup.

Hizmet in Context: Societal Islam Versus Political Islam

The Hizmet movement is according to Ebaugh (2010) a civic movement rooted in Islam that is independent from the state. Others see it simply as a faith- based movement (Esposito and Yilmaz 2010). Agai (2004) describes it as an education network and Hendrick (2009) as a global pressure group to promote Turkish interests.

Turkish authorities purge regulators, state TV employees in backlash against graft probe

Turkey has extended a purge of official organizations to the banking and telecommunications regulators and state television, firing dozens of executives in moves that appear to broaden Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s push back against a corruption investigation.

Former TÜBİTAK VP: Over 250 dismissed in 2 months

The report claimed that large-scale profiling activities have been launched against personnel who possibly have links to a “parallel state” — a term used by pro-government circles to define the faith-based Hizmet movement — upon orders from Science, Industry and Technology Minister Fikri Işık. Those being profiled by the center are being systematically dismissed.