A National Security Council (MGK) plan — dated Aug. 24, 2004, titled the “Plan to Crack Down on the Fethullah Gülen Group in Turkey” and undersigned by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, ministers and military commanders of the time — is already being implemented. Though the government claims it was not put into action, there are several indications to suggest that the MGK plan is in effect.
The CHP leader said there is a “parallel state” in Turkey, but this parallel state is not the Hizmet movement, a faith-based group inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, or any other religious group, as alleged by the prime minister. The parallel state is one that comprises the prime minister, several ministers, their sons, bureaucrats and businessmen. “This is a parallel state established for corruption,”
As Turkey’s all-inclusive civil society organization, the Hizmet movement, which has always advocated human rights and freedom, adopted democracy, worked to make the state more transparent and accountable, supported Turkey’s accession to the EU and its integration into the world, has become a target.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government has tried to scapegoat the Hizmet movement via conspiracy theories to evade attention stemming from the corruption allegations. A number of news stories broke soon after Ala’s claims, reporting that Bank Asya’s accounts were being scrutinized for misconduct.
Preparations are being made to create the grounds for accusations of a gang or terrorist organization, which has been tried many times before. Is it not possible for a criminal complaint to not be filed against a certain group of people if the prime minister of the country accuses them every day? There is now pressure on the judiciary
Following the tension between the government and the Hizmet movement — inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen — the government has based its recruitment policy on “color lists” to avoid employing people affiliated with some groups such as the Hizmet movement and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the public sector, a Turkish daily claimed on Monday.
On one day, police paid a visit both to the residence and workplace of the businessman, who requested to remain anonymous, even though there had not been any violation of law on his part. Asking arbitrary questions at the businessman’s residence, such as, “Why did you sue the prime minister?”, “What does your husband [the businessman] do?”, “Do you own the house or is it rental?” and “Do you have a car?”, the police asked for the mobile phone number of the businessman and left. The policeman said that they came from the Tepebaşı Police Station in Ankara.
Demirkubuz believes that all the “good things” that the government did prior to the 2010 referendum were to guarantee its position, rather than celebrating the rule of law and justice, as evidenced by the fact that the prosecutors who were called heroes yesterday are called traitors today. Demirkubuz urged society to go through an exercise of self-criticism in terms of the preference for power over freedoms.
İSTANBUL Dec. 17, 2013: On the morning of Dec. 17, Turkey wakes up to a bribery and corruption operation. Simultaneous operations in İstanbul and Ankara take place after an investigation that included allegations of land being opened up to illegal city zoning, bribery and money laundering. The operations, which are carried out on the orders […]
Questions to challenge the primary and unjustified premise: What judicial (or other) process determined that these corruption investigations were a coup attempt against the government? What proof or evidence do you have to support this most serious claim? What disciplinary process did you undertake to determine that the people that were purged were members and culprits of this ‘coup’? In the absence of evidence and disciplinary process how did you determine these people’s association with Hizmet? When is government corruption not a judicial coup? How can you have the right to unilaterally determine the intent and purpose of these ongoing judicial investigations when your government is implicated in them? If your government can purge over 7,000 police officers (and thereby affect and prevent these investigations) without evidence, due process or disciplinary procedure, do you not set a precedent for every future potentially corrupt government to follow?
The claim was also denied by the person in charge of the camp, Ibrahim Abdinur Muhammed, demonstrating that defamatory activities are being conducted by pro-government media outlets against Hizmet movement.
Muhammed said the organization had helped 450 families living in the camp and that it continues to send assistance to the camps in six other locations in Somali in the form of health and food supplies and clothing as well as education tools.
In an interview with the Cihan news agency, Durak showed reaction to Erdoğan’s order to the ambassadors and he visited some of the Turkish schools in foreign countries. “Children of prime ministers and presidents and high-level bureaucrats are sent to these schools opened in Africa and many parts of the world… Many significant people are given education in these schools. I am of the opinion denouncing these schools to the ambassadors instead of supporting them is equal to treason,” said Durak.
The Hizmet movement has been identified as a “domestic enemy” collaborating with foreign forces and legal and political channels were used as a tool to deal with this “enemy” after the corruption scandal became public. Thousands of policemen were reassigned and the government has taken important steps to place the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) under the control of the executive branch, which is totally at odds with rule of law.
Ahmet Dönmez, a leading correspondent based in Ankara with the Zaman daily who was sharply rebuked by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after asking him a question about recent allegations of corruption during a press conference on Feb. 12 and who was proclaimed both a national hero and a traitor on social media outlets shortly thereafter, says that he was also reproached by Erdoğan once before and that this is indicative of the state of journalism in Turkey.