Muammer Karabulut, who stands accused in the investigation into Ergenekon — a clandestine terrorist group that sought to undermine democratically elected government — has been convicted and sentenced to one year in prison for insulting Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen.
Karabulut wrote in his book “Protestan Kur’an” (Protestant Quran) that Gulen is “changing” the Muslim holy book, the Quran, and Islam by protesting against it and doing this through his “money empire” that “feeds from blood.”
The Ankara 2nd Court of First Instance handed down a one-year prison sentence to Karabulut and said the suspect had committed a “hate speech” crime. The court noted that Karabulut was convicted on charges of “insulting” because there is a legal loophole regarding hate speech in the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). The decision said the remarks on Gulen went beyond criticism and did not aim to inform the public.
The court converted Karabulut’s sentence into TL 14,600, which he can opt to pay in lieu of serving more time in prison, and elected not to suspend the suspect’s sentence because he did not express regret for his crime.
The primary reason why members of Hizmet (Service), a faith-based social movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, have been attacked, vilified and stigmatized by a government that is dominated by overzealous political Islamists and pro-Iranian sympathizers is that Gülen is standing up to the increasingly authoritarian powers of Erdoğan, who has seized control of the republic’s institutions including the judiciary, leading to increased polarization and tension in Turkish society.
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As the Turkish lira plunged even further on Friday, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım claimed the Gülen movement was responsible for the deterioration in the country’s economic outlook. According to Yıldırım, “separatists” and sympathizers of the Gülen movement are working hard to ruin the Turkish economy in the eyes of the world.
Terrorist organization, you say
He is 73 years old and is known as a respected scholar who has been studying Islamic exegesis. He is well-known in academia. He was promoted to associate professor in the field of Islamic exegesis back in 1977. He served as head of the exegesis department at the faculty of theology at Erzurum’s Atatürk University, conducted research in Paris Sorbonne, taught at the faculty of Islamic studies at the Islamic University of Madinah, was the chair of exegesis studies at Marmara University and conducted academic studies at International Islamic University of Malaysia. He is the author of 13 books and hundreds of articles.
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Some 300 Indonesian students in Turkey are seen at risk of losing their education stipends as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tightens his grip on national security following the failed coup attempt in mid-July. Meanwhile, PDI-P lawmaker Charles Honoris said there was no need for the government to heed Erdoğan’s call to close down nine Gülen-affiliated schools in Indonesia, dismissing the Turkish President’s advances as “paranoia.”
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Erdoğan and his supporters have cast the corruption probe as a smear campaign devised by Gülen, who exercises broad, if covert, influence in the media and judiciary through his followers. In response, the government has staged an unprecedented purge of the police forces and has moved to increase its control over the judiciary. Yeşil said that all these allegations were unfounded.
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