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


Related News

Pro-gov’t columnist still threatening fellow journalists

A columnist for the pro-government daily Yeni Şafak, Cem Küçük, continues to target journalists critical of the government for regular intimidation in his column.On Jan. 16, Küçük argued that an operation will be staged against newspapers with ties to the Hizmet movement and that the journalists who work in those newspapers would be brought to trial. He also said that the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) would be tried over its press releases.

What is this bedlam all about?

So, as expected, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared all-out war. The enemy — what he and his advisers regard as “the junta formation within the police,” the media, the judiciary, the American Embassy, affiliates of the mainly volunteer Hizmet movement, and, well, whoever seems to disagree with the way he intends to run the country and whoever tends to believe there is no smoke without fire — have dug their trenches in a circle.

Did Erdogan STAGE the coup?

‘Government should be won through a process of free and fair elections, not force,” Gulen said. “I pray to God for Turkey, for Turkish citizens, and for all those currently in Turkey that this situation is resolved peacefully and quickly.’ Gulen sharply rejected any responsibility: ‘As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt.

The impact of corruption on elections

Yet, looking at the data in several recent surveys, including the AKP’s internal polling, the public does not seem to be buying the conspiracy theories any more, against the background of overwhelming evidence indicating massive wrongdoing in the government. The rushed decision by Erdoğan to reassign thousands of police officers and hundreds of prosecutors and judges as well as introducing controversial bills to reign in the judiciary have all reinforced the perception that Erdoğan and his people are deeply involved in corruption.

Pro-Gov’t Columnist Suggests Setting Turkey’s Silivri Prison Ablaze To Kill Inmates From Gülen Movement

Fatih Tezcan, a pro-government public speaker and columnist, said in a video message posted on social media that people should gather in front of Silivri Prison, which mainly hosts people jailed over links to the Gülen movement, and set it on fire, similar to the Madımak Hotel in Sivas when an angry mob in 1993 torched the hotel, killing 37 people, mostly members of the Alevi sect.

Purge of ‘parallel state’ or legitimizing discrimination

The profiling of religious Muslim students who are part of the Hizmet movement caused them to be barred from obtaining high positions such as being academics at state institutions, according to Aymaz.

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

Gülen’s lawyer refutes Erdoğan’s claims as baseless

Or is it Gülenophobia?

Why the West ‘failed to understand’ Turkey

Turkish business suffers under Erdogan’s post-coup Gulen purge

Panel highlights need for new global economic order

Liberia – Turkish school system holds 7th Science Fair

Fethullah Gulen says will return to Turkey if US backs extradition

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News