The 13 March 2009 report, prepared by Turkish General Staff Intelligence Unit Head, Lieutenant General Hakkı Pekin, reveals the Tahşiyeciler group’s ideology strongly aligned with al-Qaeda, viewing its leader Osama Bin Laden as Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam.
It amounts to the otherization of a social group, cowing it into submission. It is a weapon used by the powerful to destroy the “others.” Hate speech is particularly dangerous when employed by those who exercise public authority as it leads to official discrimination. In a democratic country, it is one of the state’s basic duties to prevent the use of hate speech.
Dr. Burhan Özfatura was witnessed the meetings of former President Turgut Özal and former Prime Minister Tansu Çiller with Fethullah Gülen. He says: “Both asked what they can do for him. Gülen told them not to believe anybody who asks for a favor by referring to himself.”
Totalitarian regimes rely on their ability to manufacture enemies. In his New Year message, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referred to a host of “external enemies” and “traitors.” The ruling party characterizes these traitors as the “parallel organization” and “superior mind.” The phrases “parallel state” and “Pennsylvania organization” are used synonymously with the “parallel organization” as well.
Turkey is effectively governed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in violation of all the constitutional provisions that define a parliamentary system and a presidential oath that obliges him to maintain political neutrality. Claiming that serious corruption allegations against members of his Cabinet and family were fabricated in a conspiracy to topple his government by what he calls the “parallel state”
These are difficult times for Muslims. The Islamic World is suffering from a deep economic, political and moral crisis and is taking a downward path in the vicious cycle of corruption, violence, ignorance and oppression. There are, however, several things that offer some warm light in this dark age. The Hizmet movement is one of them.
GYV’s members strongly protested the police measure. Underlining that the raid violated standard protocol, high-ranking GYV official Recep Usta expressed; “the protocol states that VGM technical teams can come to the building and conduct examinations; and should they find any violation, a period of a month is granted to us [to fix any issues].
American Professor Philip Clayton has said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s burning of bridges with the European Union after he received criticism from the bloc for detaining leading members of the media is a sign that Turkey is in crisis with the international community.
The alleged government-plot against members of the faith-based Hizmet movement, disclosed in June by former Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin, was further instigated with questionable testimonies obtained from secret witnesses, informants and anonymous complainants leading to criminal prosecutions apparently orchestrated by political authorities.
Charging Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı for a crime based on two columns and one report published in his paper is “unlawful nonsense,” according to intellectuals and politicians observing the government-backed media crackdown in which the editor was detained.
Seval Yıldırım, a professor of law at Whittier Law School, said in a statement to Today’s Zaman on Wednesday that for the US to extradite Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen without a formal case against him would be an infringement of US law.
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has strongly criticized abusive language and remarks within pro-government circles insulting members of the Hizmet movement, saying this kind of behavior is hypocritical and is being employed to cover up their own sins.