Fethullah Gülen’s Lawyers: Gülen Movement Has No Link With Zarrab Case In US


Date posted: November 29, 2017

The lawyers of US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen said on Tuesday that the Gülen movement has no link to the case of Iranian-Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab in the US.

In a statement from @fgulenav Twitter account on Tuesday, Gülen’s lawyers has said that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government under the rule of Turkish autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and news reports in the pro-Erdoğan media aim at associating the Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab case carried out by the US Federal Judiciary to the Gülen movement.

Gülen’s lawyers said that “Gülen movement is a civic movement that embraces universal human values and the rule of law, and its sole attitude regarding the judicial process in Turkey or any country in the world, is demanding a trial according to the Universal Declaration and the European Convention on Human Rights. Apart from that, there cannot be any expectation or request.”

Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader whose prosecution in Manhattan has drawn sharp criticism from President Erdoğan, has pleaded guilty and has been cooperating with the American authorities, a federal prosecutor disclosed in court on Tuesday, according to a report by the New York Times.

Zarrab was the prime suspect in a major corruption investigation, which had also incriminated the his cabinet ministers and President Erdoğan’s family members, became public in December 17/25, 2013.  Turkish prosecutors accused Zarrab and high-ranking Turkish officials of involvement in facilitating Iranian money transfers via gold smuggling, leaked documents at the time showed.

President Erdoğan, then prime minister, cast that investigation as a coup attempt orchestrated by his political enemies. Several Turkish prosecutors were removed from the case, police investigators were reassigned, and the investigation was later dropped.

However, 9 people including Zarrab, Turkey’s Halkbank Deputy General Manager Mehmet Hakan Atilla, Turkish Economy Minister Mehmet Zafer Çağlayan and former Halkbank General Manager Süleyman Aslan have been criminally charged with conspiring to violate US sanctions on Iran in the case in New York.

Source: Stockholm Center for Freedom , November 28, 2017


Related News

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.

Warriors of enlightenment: pen versus bullet

BÜLENT KENEŞ, April 24, 2012 As we were watching the country finals of International Turkish Olympiads enthusiastically and becoming impatient for the great final in Turkey, we were shocked to learn that a heinous attack had been launched against one of the educational institutions that, like their counterparts in the remotest parts of the world, […]

EastWest Institute honors Gülen with 2011 EWI Peace Building Award

The EastWest Institute (EWI) honored well-respected Turkish intellectual and scholar Fethullah Gülen with its 2011 EWI Peace Building Award at an awards dinner held for his contribution to world peace. EWI Peace Building Award recognizes individuals who made great strides in building peace across borders and cultures.

The Community has infiltrated the European Court of Human Rights as well!

This title will clearly sound absurd and nonsensical for a normal person. As a matter of fact, it is not intended for the people who, like you, are in perfect mental health and who can think reasonably and normally. It is for those paranoid people who are obsessed with the “Community” (the Hizmet movement, also known as Gulen movement)

Gülen underlines values, rejects alliance with political party or leader

In response to a question on whether “the alliance” between the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Hizmet movement had ended, Gülen said, “If we can talk about an alliance, it was around [the] shared values of democracy, universal human rights and freedoms — never for political parties or candidates.”

Erdogan regime keeps defamation of the Gülen mov’t, calls it crusader organization

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Chairman Yasin Aktay has said the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Gülen movement are crusader organizations that are serving the same purpose.

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

Gov’t lifts confidentiality of MGK docs for publishing in partisan press

Is Gülen Movement A Religious Community (cemaat) or A Social Community (camia)?

“1915” by Prof. Ihsan Yilmaz (1)

Private schools leave mark on Science Olympiad

Turkish Cultural Center Maine honors Governor LePage

Kimse Yok Mu delivers iftar meals to homes

78 detained for raising money for post-coup purge victims

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News