January 24, 2014

To save itself, Turkish govt stabs hard-won democracy

Mahir Zeynalov

THE Turkish government’s troubled entry into an electoral campaign this year calls into question the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s capability to lead his country to a consolidated democracy at a time when anti-democratic measures are being taken to cover up the highly publicized corruption scandal.

"The United States needs to tell Turkey to change course"

Morton Abramowitz, Eric Edelman and Blaise Misztal*

Whatever his achievements over the past decade, Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is destroying his country’s parlous democracy. That is a profound problem for Turks and Turkey’s Western allies. Staying silent, out of fear that speaking out would harm some short-term interests, risks Turkey’s longer-term stability.

Islamist vs. Islamic

Bülent Keneş

It has become crystal clear that we cannot understand the current state of Turkish politics and how it can evolve in future without understanding the relations people, social groups and political movements have established with Islam in Turkey. Therefore, we need to underline the distinguishing characteristics of two different approaches to Islam's relations with politics, society and the state.

Conceptual contradictions when it comes to rhetoric about ‘parallel state'

Ahmet Erdi Öztürk*

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.

January 23, 2014

I wish none of this had happened

Cafer Solgun

The ruling party described the Dec. 17, 2013 corruption probe as a coup attempt and started an illegal process through which it removed many public employees.

Lambsdorff: PM's explanations on corruption cases were not convincing

The vice-chairman of the Liberal Group in the European Parliament, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, who represented his group in the meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday, said he was not convinced by the arguments put forward by the Turkish prime minister to explain the corruption cases which erupted on Dec. 17 and the unfolding events afterwards.

Gülen's lawyer warns about possible doctored tapes

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen's lawyer warned the public on Wednesday about the existence of possible voice recordings of his client which could have been edited and doctored in order to mislead people about Gülen.

İpek Holding chairman denies reports about alleged mansion for Gülen

Koza İpek Holding's chairman, Akın İpek, who is known for his support for the Hizmet movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, released a statement on Thursday denying reports in the Sabah and Takvim dailies which had claimed that İpek has been constructing a luxury villa for Gülen.

MHP deputy dismissed gang allegations against Hizmet Movement

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Adana Deputy Seyfettin Yılmaz stated that it would be a great wrongdoing to deem a person as gang affiliated without any verdict of conviction by a prosecutor, referring to Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen who inspired the Hizmet Movement.

EU to wait before taking action

Lale Kemal

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is understood to have failed to convince the European Union leadership of the existence of a parallel state allegedly supported by what he calls the international circles that he believes have been undermining his government, in power for more than 11 years, through a graft scandal that was disclosed on Dec. 17 of last year.

UN and Turkish charity provide 17,000 Syrian refugees with financial aid

In a project jointly carried out by Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 2,900 Syrian families comprising some 17,000 people, most of whom are women and children who fled the civil war in Syria and sought refuge in Turkey, are being provided with financial aid totaling TL 3.5 million ($1.5 million).

Shocking change and disappointed hearts…

Begüm Burak

Since 2010, democratization efforts have slowed down to an important degree.

January 22, 2014

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.

Hizmet movement sticks to principles, AK Party transformed by the state

Holding a press conference in light of the recent row between the government and the Hizmet movement on Wednesday, Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) President Mustafa Yeşil said the Hizmet movement has not changed its principles in the last half century but the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has been transformed by the state and lost its reformist nature.

Gülen underlines values, rejects alliance with political party or leader

Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday that the Hizmet movement does not form alliances with any political party or candidate, as he emphasized the importance of democratic values and universal human rights and freedoms when supporting a political movement.

Bank Asya says it weathers ‘stress test', still strong

Turkish Islamic lender Bank Asya said it had weathered mass deposit withdrawals, which the media said were orchestrated by government supporters as part of a backlash against a corruption scandal blamed on an influential cleric.

Upholding of Yıldırım's conviction; another case of 'significant timing'

Günay Hilal Aygün

Turkey saw the announcement of a prominent court ruling on Friday regarding a major match-fixing case involving Aziz Yıldırım, chairman of Fenerbahçe, one of the leading football clubs in the country.

January 21, 2014

Islamic scholar Gülen: Turkish people upset that democratic progress is being reversed

The Turkish people are upset that democratic progress has gone into reverse over the last two years, Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has said, speaking in his first interview since the graft probes that have damaged the government and widened the rift between his movement and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Fethullah Gulen’s interview with The Wall Street Journal

Joe Parkinson and Jay Solomon

1. The Prime Minister has repeatedly attacked you and Hizmet in recent weeks. Do you believe that your alliance with his faction of the AKP is now definitively at an end?

If we can talk about an alliance, it was around shared values of democracy, universal human rights and freedoms — never for political parties or candidates. In 2010 constitutional referendum I said that if these democratic reforms, which are in line with European Union’s requirements for membership, were done by CHP before, I would have supported them.

Brookings: Takvim's news on Hizmet movement incorrect, totally ignorant

Turkish analysts at the Brookings Institution, one of the most respected think tanks in the US, have voiced their criticism over a news piece published by the Takvim daily which projects the institute as part of the Hizmet movement.

Drowning the Turkish Watergate, playing the Kurdish card

Mustafa Gürbüz

Amidst corruption probes against the government, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is passionately seeking allies in his war against critics. A fascinating coalition between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), a pro-Kurdish party, seems to be emerging.

Fenerbahçe's Yıldırım: My views were displayed as if targeting a community

Leading football club Fenerbahçe's embattled chairman, Aziz Yıldırım, has corrected remarks quoted in news stories in some Turkish media outlets, saying his remarks in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday were distorted to make it look like he was targeting the Hizmet movement.

January 20, 2014

IDP welcomes EP's transparency calls to Hizmet movement

In a letter issued by the Intercultural Dialogue Platform (IDP), whose honorary president is Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, and sent to all members of the European Parliament, the IDP stated that it welcomes calls upon the Hizmet movement to improve its transparency and accountability.

Black propaganda campaign using false tweets targets Zaman daily chief

A black propaganda operation is being conducted against Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı using fabricated tweets that are made to look as though they were posted on Twitter by Dumanlı.

22 businessmen sue PM Erdoğan over Hashishin remarks against Hizmet movement

Twenty-two businessmen in Ankara on Monday filed a lawsuit against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his remarks likening the followers of the Hizmet movement to a historic group of assassins, claiming that he insulted their character.

This is too much!

Ekrem Dumanlı

We are going through a chaotic period. Lies and slanders are abundant. Some circles think it is their business to backbite. Some circles may save the day via lies, but these lies and slanders will inflict great wounds on every segment of society. There is and should be a limit for feeling anger. Alas! All moral value has disappeared.

January 19, 2014

You cannot fool all the people all the time

Şahin Alpay

I did not vote for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in any of the general elections. I refused to call it the “AK” (clean) Party, believing that the acronym just stated an ideal which had to be lived up to. But, as evident in my columns, I was generally supportive of the AKP government in its first two terms in power despite critical stances over several issues. Roughly since the referendum for constitutional amendments in September 2010, however, I have been growing critical of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government, which has increasingly assumed an arbitrary and authoritarian style of governance, and is polarizing society, thus leading the country into a severe political crisis.

Plan to finish off the Hizmet movement

Erhan Başyurt, Bugün

It seems that some groups have planned to finish off the Hizmet movement, which was inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, and start a conflict between the movement and the ruling AK Party.

[Caliphate in sight] What to expect in 2014 Turkey

Doğa Sacit*

Turks are used to their state persecuting Islamic groups and even individual apolitical Muslims. The past century is full of examples of such groups being banned, their leaders being summarily executed or jailed without fair trial and individual Muslims being purged from either the military or other state institutions. All were done in the name of “protecting the state's secular regime.”

Erdogan vs. Gulen: Who has God on his side?

Mustafa Akyol

In today's Turkey, a single issue dominates the public agenda: the political battle between the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the religious community of Fethullah Gulen. Every recent dispute — the corruption probe against the government, an investigation of an alleged arms-carrying truck crossing the Syrian border, the raid on al-Qaeda — is interpreted as being a part of that big war. Many seem to agree — but not able to prove — that the prosecutors who play an active role in these probes are motivated by their membership in the Gulen movement. They passionately disagree, though, on whether this political motivation should delegitimize the investigations as “coup attempts,” or whether the evidence for corruption and other misdeeds should be the real focus.

January 18, 2014

Touching the innocent

Hüseyin Gülerce

The row between the government and the Hizmet movement is moving along a very delicate line that may lead to serious repercussions and losses. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan argues that he is dealing with a parallel structure; but while doing that he makes millions of innocent people upset despite all warnings.

Attempting to discredit Gülen by linking him to Israel

Abdülhamit Bilici

In our country, if you want to defame or discredit someone or a group, the easiest way is to accuse that person or group of working on behalf of foreign powers, especially Israel.

January 17, 2014

Exit strategy for the AKP

İhsan Yılmaz

It has become clearer that the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government will do whatever it takes to stop a judicial investigation into graft, corruption and sleaze. About 3,000 police officers, also acting as legal enforcement officers by law since the government has not yet formed a separate enforcement unit, have been removed from their posts without any reason.

Gülen files criminal complaint over smear campaign

Prominent Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has filed a criminal complaint against an individual who insulted Gülen, claiming that the Islamic scholar plotted to topple the goverment and caused billions of dollars to Turkish economy.

MİT to monitor all religious groups as potential parts of "parallel state"

The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) recently sent a document in which all religious communities and groups within state institutions, described as “parallel state structures” (PDY) in the document, were cited as the main target to be monitored in 2014, the Taraf daily claimed on Friday.

If gov't wins two big cities, it may go to early elections

Lale Kemal

It has now become clear that the government and its onetime ally, the Hizmet (Service) movement, inspired by the teachings of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, have definitely parted ways as the former declared war against the latter which it blames for plotting a coup to undermine its governance ahead of local elections scheduled for March.

January 16, 2014

Opposition asks for parliamentary session on MİT wiretapping

Opposition parties have asked for a parliamentary session to address wiretappings carried out by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), following the emergence of audio recordings of influential social figures on the Internet.

Gülen files criminal complaint over illegal wiretapping

Prominent Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has filed a criminal complaint against those who illegally wiretapped the scholar's many phone conversations with friends and also the media outlets and websites which published the distorted voice recordings of Gülen in a defamation campaign.

Ambassadors uneasy over Erdoğan's orders concerning graft probe

Turkey's ambassadors have expressed displeasure over Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's remarks that called on them to "tell the truth" to their foreign interlocutors, saying that defending the government against corruption allegations in not the ambassadors' business.

Coup Commission members: Now is similar to Feb. 28 coup period

Members of the parliamentary Coup and Memorandum Investigation Commission, set up to investigate past coups, have said a number of anti-democratic moves begun after the launch of a wide-reaching corruption investigation, including the removal of thousands of civil servants and discrimination against members of a faith-based group, have said the practices are similar to what occurred in the run-up to the Feb. 28, 1997 unarmed coup.

PM's order echoes 2004 MGK decision

The prime minister's order that Turkish ambassadors “tell the truth” to their foreign interlocutors about the corruption probe has brought to mind a controversial National Security Council (MGK) document indicating that Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) agreed to a planned crackdown on the Hizmet movement led by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen in 2004.

January 15, 2014

Erdoğan, Hizmet, assassins

İhsan Yılmaz

When he resigned from his party, former Interior Minister Idris Naim Şahin, a very long-time confidante of Erdoğan and one of the founders of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), powerfully stated in his letter of resignation that as a founder of the AKP in 2001, he was profoundly disturbed by the way the party had been ruled.

Reactions snowball after PM likens Hizmet members to Hashishin

Many people from various circles, including politicians and historians, have leveled harsh criticism at the prime minister after he likened members of the Hizmet movement, inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, to a shady group that carried out politically motivated assassinations in the past.

Gülen to file criminal complaint over illegal wiretapping

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen will file a criminal complaint against those responsible for illegally wiretapping many of his phone conversations with friends, Gülen's lawyer Nurullah Albayrak said in a press statement.

Turkish volunteers reach out to orphans in Nairobi

A delegation of volunteers from Turkey, along with Turkish educational volunteers in Kenya, reached out to orphans in Nairobi on Monday in a visit to the capital's Kibera slum.

January 14, 2014

Hizmet says not linked to graft probe, says democracy is antidote to chaos

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), whose honorary chairman is Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, has categorically rejected accusations that it is linked to the corruption and bribery investigation that has rocked Turkey for nearly a month, urging everyone to avoid language that only deepens the "dangerous polarization" in the country.

A major scandal by the Mukhabarat state

Bülent Keneş

The voice recordings of four phone calls made to Fethullah Gülen were posted on the Internet at midnight on Monday. As you know, Gülen lives in the US. Those who phoned him are some executives from institutions established and run by the people who are inspired by the Hizmet movement in Turkey. The calls do not have any incriminating content. Rather, one of these unlawfully wiretapped recordings exposes how the Hizmet movement was targeted in a conspiracy by circles close to the government.

Witch hunt -- in the name of who and what?

Yavuz Baydar

…The AKP, along with its media and the Kemalists, agree that both the police and the judiciary have been infiltrated by people affiliated with the Hizmet movement. Let us assume that this is true. Take, then, the concrete example of 9th Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals, which unanimously upheld the prison sentences in the Operation Sledgehammer secularist military coup case last year. There were five judges and four reserves in the department. If the anti-Hizmet reasoning is correct, we must assume that all those judges are so-called Gülenists. If so, then prove it and convince us; on every level, I stand ready.

January 13, 2014

Who will Hizmet support in local elections?

Mahir Zeynalov

It is no secret that the Hizmet movement supported the democratic actions of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) up until 2011 and only slightly criticized the government's anti-democratic actions such as its infamous intelligence law, match-fixing law and proposal to shift to a presidential system that effectively blocked the constitution-writing process.

Hizmet, Erdoğan and the US

Ali H. Aslan

Five months after his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was established, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid a visit to Washington as the AK Party chairman in early 2002 to attend several meetings, both open and closed to press. He met leading Turkey and Middle East experts in the US.

Damage assessment report for Erdoğan

Emre Uslu

The wounds Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is suffering as a result of a war waged against the Gülen movement in connection with the corruption and bribery probe are becoming clear. Even though the Justice and Development Party (AKP) media try to minimize the damage wrought during this process, at some point it will be impossible for Erdoğan to cover it up.

What 'struggle for power'?

Şahin Alpay

My friends and readers abroad often ask me nowadays what I think about the “struggle for power” in Turkey between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and the Fethullah Gülen movement they read and hear about.

January 12, 2014

Probing Erdoğan's 'parallel state'

Özcan Keleş*

It has been a tumultuous few weeks in Turkey as a number of corruption investigations went public, implicating members of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government; the government's retaliatory measures are leading to a constitutional crisis as state prosecutors are being openly threatened and their orders ignored.

Turkish businesswomen building orphanage in Burundi

A group of Turkish businesswomen watched the foundation for an orphanage they funded being laid on Sunday in Burundi.

People happy in town Kimse Yok Mu helped build

Officials from Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) paid a visit to the town of İkbaliye in Pakistan, a newly built town inaugurated in September, as part of efforts to heal the wounds of a devastating flood that hit the country in 2010.The Kimse Yok Mu officials, who were received with affection in the region, carried out a sacrifice ceremony of 50 cattle with prayers. Afterwards, meat was distributed to about 100 families in İqbaliyye and the city of Lahore.