February 3, 2014

Fethullah Gülen files libel case against PM Erdoğan

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen Hocaefendi has filed libel suit against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for remarks Erdoğan made about him in his recent speechs, which Gülen's lawyer says full of with derogatory and insolent remarks.

Reuters: Turkish government fights graft scandal with probe of 'parallel state'

Turkey is launching a criminal investigation into an alleged "parallel state" backed by a U.S.-based cleric and accused by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of orchestrating a corruption scandal to unseat him, senior Turkish officials said.

Prime minister's inconsistencies raise eyebrows

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan frequently alludes to how he is a politician who stands behind his words and how what he has done in the past is an assurance of what he will do in the future, but there has been so much variance in the discourse of Turkey's leader that it has become difficult not to question the truth as he sees it.

GYV calls on President Gül to investigate interference with judiciary

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), whose honorary chairman is Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, has stated that a hate crime is being carried out against the Hizmet movement in Turkey and called on President Abdullah Gül to take the initiative in investigating the executive branch's recent attempts to render the judiciary dysfunctional.

State Islam versus civic Islam

Mümtazer Türköne

There is something unconvincing in the war the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has been waging against the Hizmet (Gülen) movement. The AK Party is deliberately escalating tension and, through this method, it hopes to get rid of the corruption probe.

What did you do, if Hizmet did everything?

Nuh Gönültaş, Bugün

To cover up claims of corruption, Turkey has taken a position in the middle of a triangle between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) and Ergenekon.

‘PM’s demonization of all opponents cause for worry on democracy’

The president of the US-based Freedom House, David J. Kramer, said that the increased harshness of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government's attacks on any group that opposes it and its targeting of the Gülen movement are leading the organization to worry about Turkey's democracy and stability.

The impact of corruption on elections

Abdullah Bozkurt

The corruption scandals that have plagued the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and implicated Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and people around him since Dec. 17 of last year will have serious impacts on the political landscape in Turkey. Rampant corruption in the government is not an unknown phenomenon for Turks, yet the sheer size and magnitude of the recent scandals, which involved billions of dollars in money laundering, influence-peddling and land development schemes, allegedly committed by at least half a dozen Cabinet members, have shocked everybody in Turkey. Perhaps next to the economy, which shows signs of distress, with an immediate impact on households' budgets, this corruption is the second most important issue for voters.

When the masks have fallen

Ekrem Dumanlı

All these claims of a parallel state are nothing but fiction, and this country is being dragged into a party state. In addition to the bureaucrats who have been appointed by the government and act in line with the government's instructions, now a group of media waiting for orders from the government before running their headlines is being created.

PKK and AKP: Conjoined twins

Emre Uslu

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has opened many fronts in recent years to fight against liberals, the Gülen movement and some of its former supporters, such as Menzil group.

Young man caught stealing copies of daily Zaman

A young man was caught red-handed in İstanbul on Saturday while stealing Zaman newspapers left by distributors in subscribers' mail boxes.

Kurdish and German angles of Erdoğan-Gülen rift*

Murat Yetkin

Yes, there is a Kurdish angle in the rift between Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan and Fethullah Gülen, his once-ally moderate Islamist scholar and there is even a Germany dimension.