Taraf daily to sue PM Erdoğan over treason accusations


Date posted: December 8, 2013

Daily Taraf has announced that it will file a criminal complaint against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on charges of attempting to influence due process after the Turkish leader called on the “judiciary to do its duty” against the newspaper for exposing a plan to eliminate the Gülen movement.

Taraf said Erdoğan had filed a criminal complaint against the daily’s Mehmet Baransu for leaking secret state documents but then went further by saying “the judiciary must do its duty” during a meeting.

A lawyer for the daily, Veysel Ok, will file the criminal complaint this week, the daily said today.

“Erdoğan’s words mean ordering prosecutor and judges what to do, and it’s a damage to the judiciary. These are crimes under the Turkish Criminal Code’s 228th Article,” Ok was quoted as saying by Taraf.

Erdoğan slammed Taraf last week for revealing a document from a 2004 National Security Council (MGK) meeting, accusing Baransu of “treason.”

“Revealing state privacy is not called freedom, it is sheer treason,” Erdoğan said, addressing a crowd in the northwestern province of Tekirdağ during a mass opening ceremony on Dec. 7.

The statement comes a day after prosecutors launched investigations Baransu and Taraf. Separate criminal complaints were filed by the Prime Ministry, the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the National Security Council (MGK).

The document, published by the newspaper on Nov. 28, revealed that the government had adopted an action plan against Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s movement during the MGK meeting. Its publishing further heated a row between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Hizmet (Service) movement, which erupted after a reform to close test prep schools was announced. Many of the schools are run by members of the Hizmet movement.

In a subsequent report, also based on documents leaked by Baransu, Taraf claimed that the Turkish government had profiled a number of groups based on religion and faith through the MİT, many of them affiliated with the Gülen movement, and monitored their activities until 2013.

On Dec. 7, Baransu said via Twitter that he found a hidden camera and a receiver in his apartment. “My source who told me that intelligence officers were following me warned me of this,” he said.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News , December 8, 2013

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Vision-impaired journalist, under arrest for 7 months, denied access to Braille books in prison

Visually impaired Turkish journalist Cüneyt Arat, under arrest over alleged ties to the Gulen movement since July, last year, has said in a letter that he was denied access to Braille books as well as audio-described movies.

Gulen blasts ‘despicable’ 2016 Turkey coup bid, subsequent ‘witch hunt’

US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, the man blamed by Turkey for a failed coup attempt a year ago, on Friday again denied any involvement in what he called a “despicable putsch,” and called on Ankara to end its “witch hunt” of his followers.

Turkey’s accused – Tragic stories of the purged

Turkey’s hunt for traitors after the failed July 15 coup has upended communities around the country and strained the rule of law. Arrests initially focused on military and security personnel. In the months since, tens of thousands of others, mainly teachers, have been caught in the crackdown.

Row between Turkish government and Gulen Movement takes new twist

The row between Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Fethullah Gulen’s Hizmet Movement, one of the most influential religious communities in the country, has taken an interesting twist after the revelation of a 2004 document. In 2004, the National Security Council proposed a clampdown on the Gulen movement (aka Hizmet), which suggested that harsh sanctions should be enforced on them.

Turkey-Japan Media Forum kicks off in İstanbul

Many journalists from Turkish and Japanese media outlets will participate in the forum, during which the attendees will discuss the role of media in terms of multiculturalism and coexistence, the perception of Turkey in the Japanese media and the perception of Japan in the Turkish media, the relationship between media and democracy and new media tendencies in the digital era.

Police raid business association in Malatya in new government-backed operation

Police teams entered and searched the premises of the Malatya Active Businessmen’s Association (MAKİAD) on Thursday in a new wave of government-led operations targeting institutions deemed to have an affiliation with the Gülen movement — a faith-based initiative inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

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

Democracy tree grows in Abant as Turks and Kurds bond

Reps urge Federal Govt to intervene in Nigerian students’ detention in Turkey

The unwanted truth: the Muslim enemies of Islam

Fethullah Gülen’s message to Turquiose Harmony Institute “Peace and Dialogue Awards”

Arrested vet diagnosed with cancer, not allowed for treatment at hospital

Turks See Purge as Witch Hunt of ‘Medieval’ Darkness

Defamation- Pro-Erdoğan daily claims Gülen movement converted 500,000 to Christianity in Kazakhstan

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News