Keyword: Turkey
Winds of friendship were enjoyed in different parts of Turkey during the month of Muharram
HIZMET NEWS In relation to month of Muharram, friendship programs were organized in Istanbul and Ankara as well as several cities of Anatolia including Tunceli, Balikesir, Corum and Tokat in November 2013. In Istanbul, government officials and representatives of religions came together at the traditional Muharram iftar (fast breaking) dinner organized by The World Ahlul […]
PM’s order echoes 2004 MGK decision [to undermine the Gulen Movement]
The prime minister’s order that Turkish ambassadors “tell the truth” to their foreign interlocutors about the corruption probe has brought to mind a controversial National Security Council (MGK) document indicating that Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) agreed to a planned crackdown on the Hizmet movement led by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen in 2004.
Opposition asks for parliamentary session on MİT wiretapping
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen will file a criminal complaint against those responsible for the illegal wiretapping of his phone conversations, Gülen’s lawyer Nurullah Albayrak said in a written statement on Tuesday.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) İstanbul deputy Ferit Mevlüt Aslanoğlu called for a parliamentary session to inform the deputies about the technical details of wiretapping.
Ambassadors uneasy over Erdoğan’s orders concerning graft probe
Turkey’s ambassadors have expressed displeasure over Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s remarks that called on them to “tell the truth” to their foreign interlocutors, saying that defending the government against corruption allegations in not the ambassadors’ business.
Gülen files criminal complaint over illegal wiretapping
Illegal wiretapping has been an issue in Parliament as well, as opposition parties have asked for a parliamentary session to address wiretappings carried out by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT). Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) İstanbul deputy Ferit Mevlüt Aslanoğlu called for a parliamentary session to inform deputies about the technical details of wiretapping.
Damage assessment report for Erdoğan
The wounds Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is suffering as a result of a war waged against the Gülen movement in connection with the corruption and bribery probe are becoming clear. Whether or not Erdoğan has become more authoritarian is now less debatable; it is a concrete fact rather than a perception.
Rule of law casualty of AKP-Gulen conflict
The AKP government thinks that by labeling corruption investigations and operations as a “coup” and calling those behind them as “parallel state” that it has found a justifiable way to interfere with the judiciary. Otherwise the government would not have submitted a draft bill to the parliament that totally eliminates the functional independence of the judiciary bureaucracy and promotes the minister of justice, who represents the executive branch, to the status of single decision-maker.
Six heads of organized crime unit dismissed as hundreds relocated in new police purges [just after an operation against al-Qaeda]
The new relocations come as two heads of anti-terror units who conducted an operation against al-Qaeda and raids against a local branch of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH) charity were dismissed on Jan. 14.
Turkish anti-terrorism police carried out raids in six cities, detaining at least five people with alleged links to al-Qaida
The police raid “is a deliberate attack on the IHH,” said Yasar Kutluay, the group’s secretary general. “They are trying to portray the group as an organization with links to terrorism.” He blamed Israel and Gulen’s supporters, for the operation — a charge Gulen’s movement immediately rejected as “slander and false incrimination.”
Communists in Cold War, reactionaries in Feb. 28 coup and Gülenists in Erdoğan era
It is useful to make a point here: Is it not true that some civil servants and officers, including prosecutors, judges, police officers, district governors and governors, are members of the Gülen movement? Of course it’s true. But is that a crime? No, it is not. People cannot be blamed for their beliefs, thoughts, identities or colors. They cannot be discriminated against because of such characteristics.
A major scandal by the Mukhabarat state
The voice recordings of four phone calls made to Fethullah Gülen were posted on the Internet at midnight on Monday. As you know, Gülen lives in the US. Those who phoned him are some executives from institutions established and run by the people who are inspired by the Hizmet movement in Turkey. The calls do not have any incriminating content. Rather, one of these unlawfully wiretapped recordings exposes how the Hizmet movement was targeted in a conspiracy by circles close to the government.
