Behind the secret documents – Turkish government profiled a large number of individuals


Date posted: December 3, 2013

TUĞBA AYDIN

A story which was published by Taraf daily on Monday has shaken the country.

According to the story, 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. The report reveals that, the profiling of individuals did not end in 2010 as previously claimed, but continued between 2011 and 2013. Those mainly profiled are reportedly followers of Hizmet, a faith-based movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

The daily also claimed that other religious groups that voiced criticism or disapproval of the government’s activities were also profiled, mainly civil servants or those who planned or hoped to be employed in a state post.

According to Bugün columnist Gültekin Avcı, if the document revealed by the Taraf daily is true, it is a great violation of democracy and law by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and is a sign that the tutelage of civil society and democracy still ongoing. It might be possible for government officials to say they put their signatures on the MGK’s secret documents to protect the Hizmet movement but the latest profiling claim made by Taraf is completely incomprehensible, writes Avcı in his column.

In her column published on Tuesday, Sabah’s Nazlı Ilıcak says the AK Party has taken very important steps for the country in terms of the Ergenekon trial, a clandestine criminal group accused of plotting to overthrow the government. The columnist thinks the secret document signed by government officials was not put into effect since the AK Party has overthrown the military tutelage.

Source: Today's Zaman , December 3, 2013


Related News

Turkey’s spying imams also active in Norway: monitoring group

Norwegian Islamist religious organizations that are affiliated with the Turkish government and its Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) are reportedly involved in unlawful profiling activities of unsuspecting people of Turkish origin across Norway.

Erdogan Moves to Shut Prep Schools in Blow to Gulen Followers

The issue is important to Gulen’s followers, who teach about 400,000 of the 1.2 million prep school students. The schools offer additional training to students preparing for exams from elementary schools to universities.
Erdogan has so far removed thousands of police officers and prosecutors on suspected ties to Gulen’s movement, while pro-government media has targeted companies for alleged links to the cleric.

Train, equip and persecute?

It’s never easy to find diplomats who speak publicly without beating around the bush and concealing facts, even if they are retired. Exceptions make especially us journalists happy. Former United States Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone is one of them.

GYV Presient Yesil: We knock on all doors

Mustafa Yesil is the president of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), which is known as the Gulen community’s institutional representative. He has addressed a wide range of issues, among them the Gulen movement, eavesdropping, the arrest of Aziz Yildirim (chairman, Fenerbahce soccer team), the National Intelligence Institution’s (MIT’s) head Hakan Fidan’s query.

Disabled teacher, husband removed from job as brothers under arrest

Fatma Koyun, a teacher with an 82 percent physical disability who was dismissed from his job as part of a post-coup investigation, says her husband as well as her brothers have been under arrest for months.

The role of civil society in Turkey’s democratization

BÜLENT KENEŞ  May 22, 2012 Neither the state nor political parties can act as guarantees for democratization and democracy. With the fact that the main impetus behind and guarantee for our democratization is our ever-growing civil society, we need to consider whether we are attaching due importance to “Civil Society Organizations”. In the speech I […]

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

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

In Case You Missed It

Gov’t lifts confidentiality of MGK docs for publishing in partisan press

Islam: Peace or Terror | Fethullah Gulen’s Response

Cabinet ruling against non-profit charity Kimse Yok Mu condemned

Kurdish problem, PKK, AKP, Hizmet movement

Germany Declines Turkish Request to Freeze Gulen Assets

Lies in the “Research” by Der Spiegel

Lessons from Dec. 17: Who is parallel?

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News