Court claims armed group leadership in Fethullah Gülen arrest warrant without evidence
The reasoned decision of a court ruling issuing an arrest warrant for Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has revealed that the court accused Gülen of leading an armed terrorist organization, an accusation for which the court failed to provide any evidence.
The 1st İstanbul Penal Court of Peace last week issued an arrest warrant for Fethullah Gülen, which is seen as a step towards an Interpol red notice and ultimately extradition from the US.
The petition submitted by the prosecutor to the court claims that “there is tangible evidence showing that Fethullah Gülen is the founder of an armed terrorist organization and he was involved in crimes of defamation and restricting a person's freedom.”
İstanbul Public Prosecutor Hasan Yılmaz, who is supervising an investigation that detained Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı and dozens of others, issued an arrest warrant for Fethullah Gülen as part of the operation that started on Dec. 14 targeting journalists, TV scriptwriters, producers and police officials.
The reasoned decision of the court, which emerged on Tuesday, showed that the court based its decision on the prosecution's claims that the scholar is leading an armed group, dismissing other charges for Fethullah Gülen due to a lack of evidence.
Although the court agreed to issue the warrant for Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim preacher who promotes values such as dialogue, tolerance and mutual understanding, for leading an armed group, it failed to provide any evidence on Fethullah Gülen's alleged leadership of an armed terrorist group.
On the other hand, the fact that the court dismissed charges of defamation and restricting a person's freedom against Fethullah Gülen foils claims that the warrant had been built on charges of defaming the deadly al-Qaeda-affiliated group known as Tahşiyeciler (Annotators).
The prosecutor in charge of the operation claimed that journalists, through print coverage and broadcast media about the police raids conducted on this group in 2010, had defamed the suspects, including the leader of Tahşiyeciler, Mehmet Doğan, who had openly called for an armed struggle to take over the government in Turkey.
Gülen was allegedly involved in the investigation as he criticized the Tahşiyeciler group in a speech posted on his website Herkul.org on April 6, 2009. Gülen had warned about Tahşiyeciler, saying it pretends to be a religious group.
Justice minister says received no document on Fethullah Gülen ruling
The top official of the Justice Ministry has said the ministry has so far not received any document from a court regarding the arrest warrant for Fethullah Gülen.
“The arrest warrant issued by the İstanbul Criminal Court of Peace has not arrived at the Ministry of Justice,” Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said following a ceremony on Tuesday.
Responding to reporters' questions following the ceremony in Ankara, Bozdağ said the ministry would do what is required for an Interpol red notice for Fethullah Gülen after receiving the arrest warrant.
The extradition of Fethullah Gülen from the US seems to be a remote possibility as US law requires that the crime be recognized in both countries' jurisdictions and that the offense not be political in nature.
Bozdağ did not want to comment about the position the US will take after Turkey issues the red notice.
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