Van NGOs: Calling Hizmet movement ‘virus’ and ‘hashhashin’ unnaceptable


Date posted: January 27, 2014

VAN
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in the eastern province of Van said in a press conference that the tension experienced in Turkey recently has ruined the country and that any remarks or behavior against the Hizmet movement will not be tolerated.

Twenty NGOs operating in Van have also stated that labels such as “virus, “hashhashin” and “gang” should not be associated with people and organizations serving the country.

In mid-January, when speaking about those he accuses of orchestrating the ongoing government corruption investigation, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke about members of a group who are like “hashhashins.” His thinly veiled reference was aimed at Islamic scholar Fetullah Gülen‘s Hizmet movement.

Addressing the press conference on behalf of twenty NGOs, İskender Sezek, general secretary of the Van Active Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (VASİAD) said that likening the followers of the Hizmet movement to a historic group of assassins is an attempt to disgrace the Hizmet movement. “The Hizmet movement is being targeted and labeled as a parallel state, a gang, a virus, a secret organization and a group of hashhashins without presenting any legal information nor documentation and without any legal basis. A black campaign is being led about the Hizmet movement via all kinds of lies and slander by various media outlets, which totally undermines the journalism criteria,” Sezek said.

Sezek acknowledged that businesspersons affiliated with the Hizmet movement are being pressured by arbitrary threats from the regime and the licenses of some businesses are being abandoned. Sezek also said that the state is leaving some banks in difficult situation.

“Some officials and bureaucrats considered to be part of the Hizmet movement have been blacklisted without any legal justification. Educational institutions abroad, working to introduce Turkey to foreign countries where there aren’t even Turkish embassies, have been shut down despite their efforts to popularize our country among people who have no idea about Turkey,” Sezek said. He added that despite all of the closures, people have continued to be voluntary ambassadors of Turkish culture overseas.

Source: Todays Zaman , January 26, 2014


Related News

Laughter-guaranteed terrorist organization indictment

With exaggerated details, they explain that they will sell the bottle of “miraculous” liquid they produce from their bags only for TL 100. After a brief bargaining, they put the bottle in your hands only for TL 5. When you get home, you understand that it was nothing but tap water mixed with essence and you get enraged.

Dutch, German intelligence agencies uncover Turkish kidnapping, murder plots

The secret intelligence cabal directly controlled by the head of Turkey’s notorious National Intelligence Organization (MİT) under direct orders from the Turkish president has planned to assassinate a leading critic in Germany and execute a plan to kidnap another critic in the Netherlands, sources familiar with the cases told.

(Not a joke) Turkish governor: ISIL terrorist detonated himself in construction site not to harm neighbors

Following the detonation of an Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist in Turkey’s Gaziantep province on Sunday, the governor told reporters that the suicide bomber detonated himself in a construction site in order not to cause problems for the neighbors.

CPJ report: Turkey world’s 10th most dangerous country for journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Wednesday released a special report for 2014 designating Turkey is the world’s 10 worst country for journalists, once again underlining the country’s deteriorating situation for freedom of expression and free media.

Arınç says Gülen’s offer to hand over prep schools ‘sacrifice’

Turkish Deputy PM Bülent Arınç has described the offer of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen to hand over prep school management to the state an example of “sacrifice” and promised that the issue of prep schools will be resolved in a way that pleases everyone. “God knows that we don’t have an ambition to manage [these prep schools]; our desire is that these services don’t become the causalities of a disagreement,” Gülen reportedly said.

Turkey’s Erdogan takes cue from Hitler, Stalin and Khomeini

There is something deeply disturbing about the direction in which Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party are taking Turkey. Writing in this newspaper last week, John Lyons compared the sweeping purges to McCarthyism in the US in the 1950s. That was altogether the wrong analogy.

Latest News

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

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

U.S. Not Persuaded to Extradite Fethullah Gulen Over Turkey Coup

Objectives of charter schools with Turkish ties questioned

Erdoğan has to respect civil society

My husband is being tortured and I am worried about his life

Lawrence Seidman on Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet Movement

Abant Platform urges government, protesters to exercise common sense

Nigerien Minister of Education at Kimse Yok Mu

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News