Turkey needs to face the fact that experience gained over the course of almost a century has shown that the marriage of state and religion is detrimental to both. If Turkey is to ever consolidate a liberal and pluralist kind of democracy, state and religion need to be separated, and freedom for believers and nonbelievers alike has to be secured.
Subsequent to the corruption probe the AK Party had denied the charges, blaming the Hizmet movement accusing it of orchestrating the probe. “This is when the antagonizing rhetoric started,” according to Alkan. President Erdoğan has in fact openly vowed to bring down the movement and anyone it perceives as being affiliated with it.
The gentleman gently said: “However, dear Mr. Alpay, it was clear from the beginning that the AKP had a hidden agenda. But pundits like yourself conveyed a highly positive picture of the AKP government both at home and abroad. You have a responsibility in the situation we find ourselves today.”
These operations might have targeted the government in some respects, but so far no concrete evidence has been produced about deliberate, systematic and willful inclusion of the Hizmet movement in this plot. It is true that the Hizmet movement’s media group has been lending support to the graft and bribery investigation.
According to İsmail Cingöz, president of the charity Kimse Yok Mu, the Council of State’s unanimous annulment of a recent Cabinet decision to rescind the charity’s right to collect donations confirms its institutional transparency, accountability and reliability.
With the courts continuing to release police officers arrested in government-backed investigations, the lawyer of one of these officers says the court decisions have shown that the government is failing to demonstrate that the faith-based Hizmet movement was behind efforts to overthrow the government.
Directing his criticism at the government, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy and parliamentary Justice Commission member Murat Başesgioğlu voiced out “If you attempt to bring down the bank, you will have negative repercussions in the international arena,” adding “No one will take you [government] serious in the international arena, if you attempt to bring down a bank.”