Erdoğan gov’t signals change to allow re-trial of officers


Date posted: December 29, 2013

 ANKARA
Members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) have signaled that the government may propose an amendment to the law to allow the re-trial of military officers who were convicted of plotting a military coup against the government.

Speaking in his hometown of Yozgat, newly appointed Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said: “There may be some wrongdoings with regard to the law. This happened yesterday and it is happening today. [The wrongdoings] happened to some in the past, and today [they] are being done to others. Tomorrow they can happen to yet another [group].”

“What we need to do is to stand together against wrongs and acts that may be in violation of the Constitution and the law,” he added.

The AK Party’s parliamentary group deputy chairman, Mustafa Elitaş, speaking to the Hürriyet daily, said the government could change the law to allow the re-trial of hundreds of military officers.

Both comments have come after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s senior political adviser Yalçın Akdoğan wrote in an op-ed piece that convicted officers had been framed by groups within the judiciary.

He suggested that the same group is now allegedly orchestrating a widespread corruption probe against the government.

At public rallies, Erdoğan has been floating a claim that a gang within the state is attacking his government in the name of corruption. He claimed he has evidence with regard to this group and wanted to expose this evidence soon.

Erdoğan has not offered any evidence so far indicating that such a group acting in violation of the law operates within the judiciary or police force. His government, however, has engaged in the summary dismissal of senior police chiefs, some 150 of them so far, who are involved in the investigation as ordered by prosecutors. The government also replaced some 1,000 police officers in a mass purge of the İstanbul Police Department.

The gang is a veiled reference to people close to the Hizmet (Gülen) Movement. Mr. Gülen himself issued a statement through his lawyer that he has nothing to do with corruption investigation.

Opposition parties have dismissed the gang claims flat-out, saying that Erdoğan is simply trying to distract the public from the damaging corruption case by inventing villains.

“If you are looking for a gang, just gather the members of Cabinet, and you will see the gang there,” Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the main opposition Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP), said.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli slammed Erdoğan for labeling the police a “gang.” He said the government is trying to cover up a dirty corruption scheme by picking a fight with Hizmet. “He will not succeed,” Bahçeli said.

Source: Today's Zaman , December 29, 2013

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Post-coup purge victim says he may never be a father due to torture in prison

One of the 48 victims said his testicles had been crushed and that a hard object was inserted into his anus while in prison. “I was kept naked in the cold. I was beaten. Pressure was applied to my genital area. The pain didn’t stop for months. I am a bachelor, and I may never be a father,” he said.

Turkish cleric demands fatwa to amputate hands, feet of Gülen followers

Turkish cleric Nurettin Yıldız demanded a fatwa from Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate suggesting that supporters of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who is accused by the Turkish government and Erdoğan of masterminding a failed coup in July, be executed, their opposing hands and feet be amputated or be exiled instead of keeping them in prisons.

Prime Minister Erdogan’s Revenge

Mr. Erdogan has disparaged his political adversaries as traitors, terrorists and an alliance of evil. In his postelection speech, he repeatedly mentioned Pennsylvania and suggested the government would take aim at Mr. Gulen’s supporters, possibly with mass arrests.

Professors in Gaziantep profiled alongside students

Those mainly profiled are reportedly followers of the Hizmet movement, 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.

An interesting debate in the European Parliament

It is known that European parliamentarians already talk to people close to Hizmet, so this refusal was interesting. It can even give the impression that the Turkish government is putting pressure on the EP. Of course, Turkey hasn’t that kind of power; if we did, we would have become an EU member years ago. The other impression is that the Hizmet movement is trying to influence the EP’s work.

Fethullah Gulen Denies Coup Involvement

Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric living in self-exile in the U.S. and a political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, insisted Saturday that he had no involvement in Friday’s attempted coup.

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

Ahmet Şık’s book and Ergenekon’s media campaign (1)

Hopefully the Gulen movement will help change the American values

Int’l language and culture festival ends with spectacular ceremony in Germany

Borough President Adams Celebrates Eid with Food Donation

Turkey-China seek new gateway for business at Tuskon meeting

Davud Hanci’s wife says Calgary imam detained in Turkey ‘a very peaceful man’

Was prime minister able to convince the EU?

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News