March 9, 2012

Fethullah Gülen denies ‘groundless’ Stratfor claims of pressure on AK Party

Today's Zaman

Fethullah Gülen (Photo: Cihan)
Well-respected Turkish intellectual and scholar Fethullah Gülen has denied recent media reports based on leaked e-mails from security analysis company Stratfor that said members of his movement were putting pressure on the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in order to control the party.

Gülen said through his lawyer, Orhan Erdemli, on Wednesday that the allegations are totally groundless. Turkey’s Taraf daily reported on the leaked e-mails on Wednesday.

A set of email correspondence between two colleagues at US-based intelligence agency Stratfor, which provides geopolitical analysis to paying subscribers, was released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks as part of a massive leak of the company’s correspondence. In one of the e-mails, analyst Emre Doğru claims that there was a conflict between the AK Party and the Gülen movement.