78 detained for raising money for post-coup purge victims
Date posted: July 14, 2017
At least 78 people were detained in an Antalya-based operation into the Gülen movement on Thursday.
Arrest warrants were issued for 98 people in Antalya, İstanbul, Mardin, Balıkesir, Malatya and Afyonkarahisar provinces while police failed to locate 20 of the suspects who are accused of raising money for the relatives of people who were earlier arrested as part of separate investigations into the movement, pro-government Sabah newspaper reported.
The detainees were reportedly the members of Antalya-based AKÇA-DER business union while police seized several copies of Fethullah Gülen’s books during Thursday raids at suspected locations.
Meanwhile, at least 219 people including those rounded up in Antalya were detained as part of separate investigations into the Gülen movement in 8 provinces the same day.
Could assassination attempts be made against politicians?
Given the fact that Gülen is the foremost advocate of nonviolence and the only promoter of dialogue with different segments of society, including Jews and Christians, it was surprising for many political observers to see Gülen’s movement being labeled as hashashins.
Post-Kemalist Turkey and the Gülen Movement
The Gülen Movement was known for the cool-headed decisions it took at the risk of severe criticism during Turkey’s most difficult times. Today, it would be expected that the same movement will display a similar rationality in a changing Turkey.
3 journalists detained after interview with jailed Gülen-linked businessman
Three local journalists in Turkey’s Gaziantep province were detained by police after releasing an interview with jailed businessman Ahmet Selim Ener, who was imprisoned over alleged links to the Gülen movement.
Corruption probe [in Turkey]
Radikal’s Cüneyt Özdemir said that even if some people interpret the corruption operation as a manifestation of the rift between the Hizmet movement and the government, it does not reduce the importance and seriousness of the allegations directed against the detainees. “The fact that it involves the general manager of a state-run bank and the sons of three ministers shows us the importance of this investigation,” he said.
Turkish imam spy affair in Germany extends across Europe
The Federal Prosecutors Office (GBA) said in a statement no arrests were made in the raids in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and Rhineland-Pfalz, which aimed to collect evidence into imams conducting alleged espionage against supporters of the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
Hizmet Movement is not interested in attaining political power in Turkey or elsewhere in the world
[Erdogan] has called Hizmet a state within a state, which to me is a strange characterization. To me, that’s like saying that the Catholics are a state within a state in America, or the Jews, a state within a state in America. Those kinds of statements are derogatory, they’re pejoratives. Catholics have a right to seek influence in America; Jews have a right to seek influence in America, that’s how we operate here.
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