INTERPOL apparently indicated in its decision that it did not recognize the “parallel structure” as a illegal or terrorist organization. In other words, the charges against Gülen appear to have been fabricated based on his political activity. His case is widely viewed as part of a government crackdown on dissidents and political opposition, as described here. U.S. officials have also thus far refused to extradite Gülen back to Turkey.
Despite a ruling from the Constitutional Court and the Council of State annulling a Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government-sponsored law that required privately owned exam preparation schools in Turkey to be closed down or converted, the Çorum Governor’s Office has ordered the closure of three prep schools as part of the government-led operation against institutions and businesses owned by the faith-based Gülen movement.
The decision by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to re-examine cases of unsolved murders that took place between 2000 and 2013 is an attempt to pin the murders on Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement, a grassroots civil society organization inspired by Gülen, the scholar’s lawyers have said.
The organizers announced that the conference would on the first day focus on “the Hizmet movement, inspired by the Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen, which is portrayed by many as an example of modern, ‘enlightened’ Islam, oriented towards dialogue and co-operation rather than conflict.
If President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had given an assurance to the world, saying, “The Hizmet movement never resorts to violence and it is an antidote to Islamist violence,” people would still have nurtured doubts and they still would have asked if they, like Islamists, would resort to violence under duress.
Former Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay has condemned a recent decision made by the new trustees of Kaynak Holding to have all copies of books written by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen removed from the shelves of NT bookstores across the country, saying that the “indecent” act of censorship offends the public.
Sir Graham Watson, the outgoing president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party, has said, while citing the consequences of a country’s deviation from liberal values, that the politically motivated moves targeting the followers of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen are the result of an illiberal state.
The lawyer representing a number of schools that were raided in a government-initiated operation in Bilecik province on Saturday and Sunday based on their supposed affiliation with an alleged terrorist organization has said terrorist organizations do not open schools but instead raid them.
In an explicit example of censorship, a panel of trustees who were appointed to Kaynak Holding last week in a government-backed move has decided to have copies of all books written by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen removed from the shelves of hundreds of NT Mağazaları bookstores across the country, Today’s Zaman has learned.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s televised remarks on Wednesday night suggesting that the witch hunt against members of Gülen movement will show no sign of abating under the new government has drawn condemnation from opposition political parties.
In Turkey, the increasing pressure over the freedom of press, property rights and authoritarianism have reached an alarming level. A recent report on the rule of law and respect for human rights inTurkey declared that Turkish government had been perpetrating systematic human rights violations since December 2013.