Men accused of attempting to rape 6 teachers: We thought they were Gulenists


Date posted: February 17, 2017

Three suspects accused of attempting to rape 6 female teachers in İzmir have told a court they “wanted to force” the teachers to leave the town because they thought that the victims had links to the Gulen movement, which the government accuses of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt.

The suspects are being tried at an İzmir criminal court and face up to 20 years jail time on charges of “causing damage to property” and “sexual harassment.”

According to CNN Turk news portal, the three man identified with initials Y.I., M.A., M.B., came to the house where the teachers — S.C. (39), İ.P. (26), B.D. (26), E.Ş. (40), F.Ö. (66) and B.Ö. (26) – were staying in and started kicking the door and threatened the women to let them in. The suspects reportedly fled after H.Y., a villager, approached the house upon hearing calls for help from the victims.

Even though the incident took place weeks before the coup attempt the suspects said in their defense that they thought that the teachers were Gulenists and thereby wanted to dismiss them from the town.

“We were drunk and we do not remember much. We did not engage in any kind of verbal harassment. Maybe we did. We were drunk so we do not remember. We just threw stones to drive them out of town. Because we thought they were Gulenists”, the suspects said.

Source: Turkey Purge , February 17, 2017

Tags: | | |


Related News

When paths part…

ORHAN MİROĞLU The Hizmet movement and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) have arrived at a critical junction in the road. The main problems that have emerged on the route towards this critical junction are of course not limited to the debates and disagreements surrounding the question of the closure of the prep schools. […]

HIzmet centre takes on Erdogan regime

The London-based Centre for Hizmet Studies has accused Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his regime of systematically trying to provoke the followers of the Hizmet Movement into violence and portray the movement as a violent organisation.

Fethullah Gulen: Erdogan is not Fit to be President

Legal experts discussed Erdogan’s eligibility to serve as president, because of questions about his college education. Other have questioned the fairness of the elections and there are allegations of electoral fraud. But aside from this, if the Turkish people elect a shepherd as their leader, I respect their choice. But personally I don’t see Erdogan is fit to be president.

Self-criticism by the Hizmet movement

Hizmet is composed of volunteers who are heterogeneous in terms of religiosity, ideology, lifestyle, occupation, degree of involvement in Hizmet activities and so on. Since Hizmet is not a hierarchical organization, it does not have a headquarters. As a result, it is difficult to talk about Hizmet’s mistakes. One can talk about the mistakes of some Hizmet volunteers or institutions that are affiliated with Hizmet.

Turkish Gov’t Unveils 16 Ways to Identify Gulenists [as Terrorists]

Turkish authorities have finally come up with a detailed set of measures and criteria to identify suspected Gulenists. After its publication and prime minister’s announcement, critics argued that this presents a perfect textbook of fascism as the government justifies its actions, purges on ludicrous charges devoid of a legal base in universal standards and even country’s current laws.

Suspicious deaths, suicides become common occurrence in post-coup Turkey

The number of people who die in suspicious circumstances after being linked to the July 15 coup attempt has been rising with every passing day, a systematic occurrence that is casting a shadow over official statements pointing to suicide. At least 14 people have reportedly committed suicide. The relatives of most of them claim that the detainees are not the kind of people to commit suicide. Rumours also have it that some of the detainees were killed after being subjected to torture under custody.

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

Becoming a Dialogue Movement: What Can Dialogue Learn from Other Movements?

Turkic American Alliance calls on Davutoğlu to prove letter of complaint claims

Afghan minister says proud his children studied at Turkish schools

Feb. 28 postmodern coup and sins of collaborative media

Islamist vs. Islamic

Canada’s Turkish community on edge as government crackdown continues

Turkey’s Reichstag Fire

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News