Turkey's Erdoğan declares war against 'parallel structure'

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed to launch a massive operation against what he calls the "parallel structure," a reference to the Hizmet movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen in his first parliamentary party group speech after the March 30 local polls.

Emerging more confident after a resounding victory in the local elections, Erdoğan said his government will not remain indifferent to the espionage activities of the "parallel structure" in the international arena.

Erdoğan said he raised the issue of the "parallel structure," among other issues, when he met with Azerbaijani officials last week during his first post-election trip abroad to Azerbaijan, a close ally of Turkey.

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government has long been signaling plans for a crackdown on the so-called "parallel structure" -- a term coined by Erdoğan to describe the Hizmet movement -- to clear the state of "illegal elements" that are allegedly trying to undermine national interests.

Early on Tuesday, police raided several addresses in the southern province of Adana as part of an investigation into allegations of illegal wiretapping by six police officers and two police chiefs. Pro-government newspapers cast the Adana investigation as the beginning of an operation against the "parallel structure."

In his detailed speech to the AK Party group in Parliament, Erdoğan bashed his rivals and threatened to take action against critical media outlets, slamming them for running what he says were “provocative headlines.”

"We will not forgive these kinds of vile acts, this treason," he said.

Critics, however, are concerned about a witch hunt, as Erdoğan is calling on the public to inform state officials about any person suspected of belonging to the "parallel structure."

Lifting of Twitter ban should be overturned

Erdoğan said a constitutional court ruling lifting a ban on Twitter was wrong and should be overturned.

"The constitutional court's ruling on Twitter did not serve justice. This ruling should be corrected," Erdoğan told a parliamentary meeting of his AK Party.

Access to Twitter was blocked on March 21 in the run-up to local elections, but Turkey's telecoms authority lifted the two-week-old ban last Thursday after the court ruled that the block breached freedom of expression.

Published on Cihan, 08 April 2014, Tuesday