Keyword: Defamation of Hizmet
Gülen, Erdoğan’s new agenda item with the West
Yet, no matter how strong of views he might voice to his interlocutors about the Gülen movement (Cemaat) he can’t save himself from the problem of credibility. While he was giving assurance in Brussels that he is not interfering with the judiciary, the fact that the very same day the pressure exerted by the undersecretary of the Justice Ministry to the chief prosecutor in his investigation on a corruption case was revealed through documents will lead the EU to approach these assurances with suspicion.
Erdoğan using hate speech against Gülen movement, says MEP
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s accusations against a faith-based movement led by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen amidst a corruption scandal are both uncalled for and amount to “a kind of hate speech” that has the risk of sparking violence against the group, a senior member of the European Parliament has said.
Tension at home hits Turkey’s brand overseas
ESİDEF President Mustafa Özkara said: “Top government officials, who during the Turkish Olympiads only six months ago called the Hizmet movement the ‘peace movement of the century,’ now define the same movement as a ‘parallel structure,’ a ‘gang,’ a ‘criminal organization’ and even Hashashins.
Likely case against Hizmet will bolster authoritarian character of Erdoğan gov’t
Rumors have it that the Erdoğan government will file criminal charges against people alleged to be associated with this “parallel structure,” a veiled reference by Erdoğan to the Hizmet movement, inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, that the government claims as the force driving the massive corruption investigations that have shaken the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
LDP leader says received ‘indecent proposal’ from pro-gov’t paper
“They said I would make the headline story of the newspaper if I agreed to speak to them about the existence and alleged activities of a parallel state. I rejected this indecent proposal. Let them keep their headlines and proposal,” the LDP leader said on Thursday, speaking to Today’s Zaman.
Gülen’s lawyer warns about possible doctored tapes
Lawyer Nurullah Albayrak in a written statement referred to lies and defamation about Gülen in the media which have become widespread and said Gülen’s phone calls have been illegally wiretapped. “These calls are reported in the media without taking any ethical principles into consideration,” he said, adding that it is very likely there will be edited phone calls as part of a black propaganda campaign against Gülen.
PM Erdoğan has one tone for Brussels, another for Turkey
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shifted his rhetoric on his official visit to Brussels, dropping talk of a “parallel state” that is trying to unseat him when addressing European Union officials and foreign journalists — although he continued his defamation campaign against the Hizmet movement in meetings where he addressed Turkish audiences.
CSOs across Turkey slam campaign under way to discredit Hizmet movement
Representatives of civil society organizations across Turkey issued press releases on Wednesday to condemn a defamation campaign targeting the Hizmet movement, a volunteer-based grassroots movement particularly working in the field of education around the world while aiming to spread interfaith dialogue inspired by Muslim scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Court imposes punitive fine on author for libeling Gülen family
Mısıroğlu was found guilty of fabricating lies about Gülen’s father and grandfather in his book, “Manipulation Movements from Past to Present – 3.”
Gülen’s brothers Seyfullah and Salih Gülen and his uncle Seyfettin Gülen sued the author at the 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, arguing that the claims in the book are baseless and defamatory. Fethullah Gülen’s lawyers have filed a second libel suit against Mısıroğlu at the İstanbul 12th Criminal Court of First Instance.
Conceptual contradictions when it comes to rhetoric about ‘parallel state’
.In the wake of the Dec. 17 corruption operations that took place in Turkey, the government removed and changed such an extraordinarily high number of people from their positions in the police force, the justice system and the national education structure that these changes certainly would not have been possible in a state of law. An attempt was made to see these changes happen within the framework of heavy propaganda about the concept of the existence of a “parallel state.”
Upholding of Yıldırım’s conviction; another case of ‘significant timing’
Nowadays, Erdoğan is leading a defamation campaign to black out the truth and to distort the facts through the discourses of ‘parallel state,’ ‘there is no corruption; but a coup’ and ‘international conspiracy’.” Çandar then quoted Yıldırım responding to a question asking if he thinks that the Hizmet movement is behind the case against Fenerbahçe, in an interview he recently gave to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), saying: “This is not what I think. This is what the prime minister of the Turkish Republic thinks.”
Bank Asya says it weathers ‘stress test’, still strong
Turkish media say state-owned companies and institutional depositors loyal to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have withdrawn TL 4 billion ($1.79 billion), some 20 percent of the bank’s total deposits, over the last month to try to sink the lender. The government has declined to comment. Bank Asya’s chief executive Ahmet Beyaz said the bank’s founders included sympathizers of cleric Fethullah Gülen, who officials say is behind the corruption investigation posing one of the biggest challenges to Erdoğan’s 11-year rule. But he said the bank was not at risk.
