
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has recently been engaged in a bitter fight with the Hizmet movement. This conflict intensified after Dec. 17, 2013, when a major graft operation targeting government ministers and connected businessmen became public. The prime minister claims the operation was orchestrated by the Hizmet movement in an effort to overthrow his government. However, he has not provided any evidence to prove this claim, and the movement denies the accusation.

The US and Europe now use Erdoğan’s level of aggression against whomever he targets as an indicator to measure the degree of democratic culture of the Turks. For this reason, as Erdoğan and his government intensify their aggression, the Hizmet movement becomes more respectable and prestigious in the world.

Turkish prosecutors carried out a number of arrests and raids on the morning of 17th December 2013 as part of a series of on-going corruption investigations. PM Erdogan’s response has been to call this a coup attempt against his government orchestrated by a coalition of foreign and domestic enemies. Erdogan claims that the ‘domestic pawn’ of this plot is the Hizmet movement. His number one election campaign promise: to crush and annihilate the treacherous Hizmet movement.

As many as 100 high-ranking members of the police force were detained in a large-scale operation which began late Monday night/early Tuesday morning in over 20 provinces as part of the government’s attempt to contain an embarrassing graft scandal which has implicated several ministers and dozens of pro-government businessmen. The operation has been described as […]

SELÇUK GÜLTAŞLI Because he believes that the lies about the so-called “parallel state” are a useful tool to cover up the corruption charges, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan keeps riding this parallel bicycle. He is aware that once he stops riding this bicycle, he will fall off and the corruption charges will be exposed to […]

Lawyers representing Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen have filed a complaint against two İstanbul prosecutors who are conducting an investigation into their client, accusing them of violating procedural rules in the manner the probe is being conducted. The prosecutors have also lied on many occasions in writing, according to Gülen’s lawyers, who say that the prosecutors […]

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) fined Samanyolu TV on Sunday for running a news story about a student named Fethullah Gülen who prepared for the Transition to Higher Education Examination (YGS) with the Hizmet-affiliated Körfez University Preparation School in İzmir. RTÜK said broadcasting the name of a student along with the school’s name […]

EKREM DUMANLI I am writing this article to help you. Help an oppressor? Yes. One day the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “Help your brother, if he is an oppressor or the oppressed.” His Companions asked, “We understand why we should help the oppressed, but how can we help the oppressor?” And he gave the following […]

The PM Erdogan has been harshly criticized for his remarks by observers and legal experts, who agree the remarks have come as a clear indication that the prime minister is directly involved in a planned legal action against a civil society group — the Hizmet movement. According to the prime minister’s plans against Hizmet, it is already clear which court and judges will handle the legal case against the movement.

MUSTAFA KUŞEN / MANISA The Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) has financed the purchase of houses for the families of 11 miners who were among 301 killed in a mining disaster in the district of Soma in western Manisa province in May. On May 13 Turkey was shocked by an explosion and […]

A message of tolerance, dialogue and coexistence for people of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds was dominant at a fast-breaking dinner organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) on Thursday. “We have capital no other than love, no intention other than serving humanity,” Mustafa Yeşil, head of the GYV, said at the fast-breaking dinner, […]

EMRULLAH BAYRAK / ANKARA Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Sezgin Tanrıkulu spoke in Parliament on Wednesday about the cancellation of the award ceremony of a short film contest after the competition was won by Seleme Gülen, a relative of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Bringing the issue to the floor of Parliament, […]