WSJ, Judiciary, Gulen Movement, and the Government

Nazli Ilicak
Nazli Ilicak


Date posted: April 4, 2013

The news I read in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) took me by great surprise. Supposedly, (former Gen. Staff) Ilker Basbug’s imprisonment for life was a message from the Gulen Movement to Erdogan, saying, “Beware! You cannot seek resolution on the Kurdish issue without our permission.”

The claim that there was an organizational grouping of members of the Movement in the judicial circle was first brought up when Prosecutor Sadrettin Kaya wished to interrogate Hakan Fidan, Counselor for MIT (National Intelligence Organization). Even if one doesn’t agree with the issue, the fact that the incident was considered to be an “overstepping of judicial boundaries” can at least be paid some respect. However, generalizations made without the support of any sound evidence contradicts with the gravity of the issue.

That said, did it not become obvious that all these claims had been nothing but nonsense after Fethullah Gulen’s support on the Imrali negotiation process? So, this comes to mean that the summoning of Fidan into interrogation was because of the fact that the MIT seemed to have some kind of part in the KCK operations. The prosecutor was obligated to carry on his interrogation, based on the evidence received from security forces and the current laws.

We love writing out different scenarios based solely on assumptions. There are some who do this through their bad intentions, wanting to weaken their target, AK Party. And there are others who get carried away with conspiracy theories and produced baseless claims. Supposedly, the imprisonment of Basbug was a warning from the Movement to Erdogan! As if the Prime Minister were against judging the attempts towards coup! On the contrary, Erdogan had only criticized the widespread apprehensions and the accusation of Basbug on being “a member of a terrorist organization”. Otherwise, he was not apt to covering up and letting go of those who were after psychological operations and black propaganda. After all, without the support of the political will, the process of judging the coups wouldn’t have been able to begin in the first place.

Source: [in Turkish] Sabah, 23 March 2013. English translation is retrieved from HizmetMovement.Com

Tags: Fethullah Gulen, Defamation of Fethullah Gulen

 


Related News

Election results and the Hizmet movement

Unlike the perception that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tried to create, with the help of tremendous media power, the contention in the run-up to the elections was never between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Hizmet movement (or the so-called foreign forces that colluded with it).

Emotional farewell for Turkish teachers

The students, who have been groomed and educated by the Turkish teachers at the PakTurk schools, seem down in the dumps since word about their mentors’ departure got round. The teachers are scheduled to leave Pakistan in the coming week following the government’s deadline.

Fethullah Gülen’s statement regarding the family that drowned in the Meric (Evros) River

With tremendous sadness, I have learned that a mother and her two children lost their lives in the Meriç (Evros) River while fleeing Turkey in order to escape persecution by tyrants in their home country.

Gov’t pins hope on division in Turkey as Erdoğan resorts to hateful speech

In an attempt to divert pressure from public opinion from him, Erdoğan is waging a war against the Hizmet (Service) movement, which has openly called on the government to clamp down on the wrongdoers and clean politics of dirt.

US law professor: Erdoğan’s talk of Gülen extradition ‘foolishness’

Jim Harrington, a US human rights attorney and University of Texas professor, has said that any talk of asking the United States to extradite Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen to Turkey is “foolish, absurd and self-serving.”

Perinçek: I have Erdoğan’s support in fighting Gülen movement

Doğu Perinçek, the Workers’ Party (İP) leader who was given a life sentence in 2013 as part of a trial concerning the Ergenekon terrorist organization, has said he has been “fighting a battle” against the faith-based Gülen movement since the 1970s and that now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is supporting him and the İP in the fight.

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

Opposition, diplomats slam gov’t attempt to shut down Turkish schools

Damage assessment report for Erdoğan

Turkey’s Purge Could Cause a Massive Brain Drain

Woman detained along with 40-day-old baby while visiting jailed husband

The term ‘Fetö’ is a misnomer, a bizarre creation of the paranoid Erdoğan propaganda machine

Gülen says prefers staying longer in US to avoid ‘harming positive things’

AK Party gov’t violates rule of law with mass profiling of civil servants

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News