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

Turks fleeing post-coup reprisals find shelter in Pittsburgh

Until this summer, Cetin Gul of Istanbul, Turkey, worked as a videographer for a company that did promotional work for clients that included a charity organization. That charity, Hizmet, is associated with the movement of Fethullah Gulen. After a deadly and unsuccessful coup attempt by some in the Turkish military in July, the government began suppressing organizations associated with him. “Because of the direct association with Hizmet, I was a direct target,” Mr. Gul said.

[Erdogan’s] Turken Foundation: A Wolf in the Neighborhood [in the US]

Members of the Saudi royal family are known financiers of madrassas, informal education centers around the world that propagate Wahhabiism, an extremist interpretation of Islam. Will the [pro-Erdogan] New York dormitory function as a madrassa?

AK Party government removing critical voices from state bodies

Many bureaucrats who are just doing their jobs and have no affiliation with any political groups now face [the prospect of] being dismissed with a claim of having links to the Hizmet movement. However, it is widely known that many of the bureaucrats discharged from their posts do not have any links with the movement,” Arslan said.

Bank Asya weathers withdrawals, says CEO

“The deposit withdrawal was a significant sum, but new deposits worth more than half that amount were placed in the bank, making it possible for us to manage our liquidity,” Beyaz told Reuters in an interview late Jan. 21.

TUSKON challenges Erdoğan to enter business, defies threats

In the strongest civil society reaction yet to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s month-long offensive tone and threats against Turkey’s largest Islamic group, the Hizmet movement, a leading business confederation affiliated with Hizmet on Saturday called on Erdoğan to quit politics and join the business world to make money.

Turkish Alevites, Sunnis show solidarity during Eid al-Adha

The Turkmen -Alevite-Bektasi Association (TABA) and the Kimse Yok Mu Association helped families in Kirklareli’s Hasandede town, Turkey, who could not afford to sacrifice an animal in this Eid al-Adha. During Eid al-Adha meat from sacrificed animals were distributed to 100 predetermined needy families making them enjoy the holiday.

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

Letter campaign launched for Turkey’s imprisoned women, mothers

Grondahl: Turkish community strong in wake of threats from back home

Kimse Yok Mu delegation visited the President of Somalia

Turkey’s ‘terrorists’ active in India. But who are they really?

Erdoğan’s overarching purge is not a road accident

Zaman journalists defy threat of arrest with heads held high

Islamic scholar Gülen rejects involvement with graft probe and wiretappings

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News