Pro-gov’t journo says Gülen followers were abducted, illegally questioned by Turkey’s intelligence agency


Date posted: July 30, 2017

Abdurrahman Şimşek, Sabah’s special editor for intelligence reporting, admitted on Friday that Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) abducted several people who have links to the Gülen movement and illegally questioned them before handing them over to the police.

Speaking during a news program on A Haber on Friday evening, Şimşek said: “Some high-ranking Fethullahist imam, actually a person who is in a position [in the movement] equivalent to general secretary of police, was caught. Indeed, national intelligence caught him and illegally questioned and handed him over to the police.”

At least 11 cases of alleged abductions of people who have links to the Gülen movement, which is accused by Turkish authorities of being behind a failed coup last year, have occurred in various Turkish cities since July 15, 2016.

Previously, an accountant, an engineer, three teachers, a lawyer, a university employee, two intelligence agency officials, an Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTİK) employee and a Competition Authority employee were reported missing. One of the teachers was handed over by unidentified men to police after spending 42 days out of sight.

All have in common in their personal histories that they have lost their jobs amid a sweeping crackdown that the Turkish government has conducted against its critics, particularly members of the Gülen movement.

In a parliamentary question for Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım on April 25, Republican People’s Party (CHP) İstanbul deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu asked why an effective investigation is not being conducted to find these people and who abducted them.

Tanrıkulu also said there is widespread suspicion about the abduction of these people by MİT.

 

Source: Turkish Minute , July 29, 2017

Tags: | | |


Related News

Beating ‘domestic enemies’ in the game of ‘advanced’ democracy

The writers, intellectuals and the journalists close to the Hizmet movement have, from the very beginning, called on the government to take legal steps against those whom he constantly labels the “parallel state” so that they could also know who they are.

Fears for Gulen-inspired Turkish schools in Pakistan grow

Maarif, the foundation that Pak-Turk schools to be transferred to, was set up by Turkish parliament and is an education foundation based on divisive political ideology and racism. It is founded by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkey to consign AKP’s partisan mentality and political ideology to Islamic and developing countries.

‘Parallel state’ and ‘theft of national will’

There is not a single piece of concrete evidence indicating that prosecutors and police officers had acted in contravention of laws and regulations in the investigation into the corruption claims that implicated some former Cabinet members and their sons. However, these public officials who performed their lawful duties in full compliance with the principles of transparency, accountability and equality — which are fundamental characteristics of the regimes that uphold the rule of law — were recklessly accused by the prime minister and his cronies of being the “parallel state.

Turkey’s Erdogan Battles Country’s Most Powerful Religious Movement

The intensifying hostility between Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Gulen movement, an influential religious organization once seen as a key Erdogan ally, shows how the Turkish premier’s power is unraveling.

WSJ: Turks fleeing Erdogan fuel new influx of refugees to Greece

Around 14,000 people crossed the Evros frontier from January through September of this year according to the Greek police. Around half of them were Turkish citizens. Many are judges, military personnel, civil servants or business people who have fallen under Turkish authorities’ suspicion, had their passports canceled and chosen an illegal route out.

Today’s Zaman offers condolences to families of mine victims

Today’s Zaman also calls on Turkish officials to do their utmost to regulate privately owned and operated mines to ensure the safety of all workers and miners. The tragic incident in the Soma mine once again reveals the need for a stronger inspection of mines including the safety conditions of workers in line with international standards.

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

Graduation ceremony of the Turkish school in Senegal

Caretaker AK Party gov’t criticized for police operation against youth association

Opposition up in arms over Erdoğan’s badmouthing of Turkish schools abroad during visit to Ethiopia

The [Gulen] movement was a shade

Turkish PM tightens grip on judiciary in parliament vote

25-year-old woman escapes Turkey’s witch-hunt as Bosnia grants asylum

Fethullah Gulen challenges Erdogan, calls for international probe into Turkey coup allegations

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News