KCK suspect Ersanlı says doesn’t believe Hizmet behind coup, terror trials


Date posted: January 6, 2014

İSTANBUL
Professor Büşra Ersanlı, who is among suspects in an investigation into the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) on terrorism charges, has said she doesn’t believe claims raised by some officials linked with government that the faith-based Hizmet Movement led by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen is behind major trials.

Speaking to the Hürriyet daily on Monday, Ersanlı has said she doesn’t agree with allegations that the Movement could be behind the Ergenekon, Balyoz and KCK trials.

The allegations surfaced after a major far-reaching corruption investigation into the alleged bribery and rigging linked with public tenders began to proceed by inclusion of high-level members of the government. Some government officials have come up with accusation that the Movement indeed was the main culprit for launching investigations into the claims of plot to topple civilian government by army officers in first years of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) rule.

The Movement has strongly denied such claims, deeming such full-hearted efforts a conscious campaign to divert public attention away from the graft probe which has shaken the roots of the government, leading to resignations of three ministers and several other deputies from the ruling party.

Ersanlı and Ayşe Berktay said they don’t believe claims suggesting that the Movement could be behind the trials.

Historian Ersan was released pending trial in July 13, in 2012, along with 15 other suspects in the KCK case. Several defendants in the case appealed the İstanbul 15th High Criminal Court recently in an attempt to benefit from a law inserted in a newly approved judicial reform package, requesting their release from prison pending trial. They argued that the newly approved reform package allows for them to spend the remainder of the trial outside of prison. The court accepted their request on Friday, ruling in favor of the release of 16 suspects.

Ersanlı, along with publisher Ragıp Zarakolu, was arrested in November 2011 on terrorism charges as part of an investigation into the KCK, an umbrella group that allegedly encompasses the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and affiliated organizations. Zarakolu was released pending trial in April.

Ersanlı, who was a member of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party’s (BDP) constitutional commission, faces up to 22-and-a-half years in jail on charges of leading a terrorist organization. In a recent interview, Ersanlı denied the charges and said all her activities were within the limits of freedom of expression and freedom of association.

The KCK is accused of attempting to establish an alternative system of governance and terrorizing locals in the country’s predominantly Kurdish areas. Most of the accused face charges of membership in and/or aiding and abetting a terrorist group.

Source: Today's Zaman , January 6, 2014


Related News

Turkish PM Erdoğan’s imagined enemies

Turkey is no longer the old Turkey. The affluent middle class, the young population and stronger civil society organizations, strengthened by the digital revolution with such tools as social media and Internet portals, will resist any attempts to turn the clock backwards on the development of Turkish democracy. People will simply ask why Prime Minister Erdoğan is not going after his people who have been sleeping with the enemy next door if he is really sincere in addressing external threats to this great nation.

Gülen sues Ankara chief public prosecutor for defamation after terrorist label

Fethullah Gülen’s lawyer has filed a civil lawsuit claiming compensation against Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Harun Kodalak for calling the Turkish Islamic scholar the leader of a terrorist organization, Gülen’s lawyer Nurullah Albayrak announced in a written statement

Turkey’s New Maps Are Reclaiming the Ottoman Empire

Erdogan, by contrast, has given voice to an alternative narrative in which Ataturk’s willingness in the Treaty of Lausanne to abandon territories such as Mosul and the now-Greek islands in the Aegean was not an act of eminent pragmatism but rather a betrayal. The suggestion, against all evidence, is that better statesmen, or perhaps a more patriotic one, could have gotten more.

The system is the root cause of corruption

We have the perfect recipe for all kinds of corruption. The media has been silenced. It does not work as a watchdog, inspecting the government’s financial dealings. Parliament cannot inspect the government’s financial transactions. The Court of Accounts (Sayıştay) cannot inspect the government’s expenses. There are no internal mechanisms within the ruling party to make sure its leaders are accountable; there is only an infallible leader figure, and whatever he does, the party endorses it.

Turkey’s media watchdog asks Albanian counterpart to restrict Gülen documentary

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) head İlhan Yerlikaya has sent a letter to his Albanian counterpart to restrict a documentary titled “Love is a Verb,” saying that the film was broadcasted to make propaganda on behalf of the Gülen movement.

Those who infiltrate the state

The guardianship regime was in control of the country for over a century. It did not want to share its power with anybody. There was only one option left: to intimidate, to repress, to brutalize and to make others submit. To achieve this, it laid the groundwork through provocations and psychological warfare tactics; it created […]

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

M. Fethullah Gülen: educator, mystic, peacebuilder

Turkish preacher isn’t running terrorist gang

Youth address global poverty in Gülen Institute’s essay contest

Cameroon delegation meets with Kimse Yok Mu

Municipality shuts down three reading halls in Adıyaman

World renowned NGO-rating Global Geneva stands by Kimse Yok Mu

Turkish Olympiads Cultural Festival attended by 3 million visitors in İzmir

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News