Prosecutor orders mass profiling of Hizmet members
A chief public prosecutor ordered the Ankara police to carry out an extensive project related to the faith-based Hizmet movement (also known as Gülen movement) and profile academics, businessmen, entrepreneurs, public servants and ordinary citizens affiliated with the movement, according to documents published by Al Jazeera Turk on Monday.
The order, according to the documents, came after the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) -- which has recently been at odds with Hizmet – apparently devised a secret plot against members of the movement that was exposed last week when former Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin submitted a question to Parliament asking if there is a plot against Hizmet and if the AK Party had mobilized all its resources to gather evidence to initiate an operation against the movement.
Hizmet, inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, is a grassroots education and interfaith dialogue movement operating all over the world.
According to Al Jazeera Turk, Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Serdar Coşkun sent an order to the Ankara Police Department and its Anti-smuggling and Organized Crime Bureau (KOM) on June 11, 2014 to carry out a secret and unlawful investigation into the Hizmet movement. As part of the investigation, the prosecutor asked the police to find out what the “parallel structure” -- a reference to the Hizmet movement -- is exactly, who the members are, what the objectives of this group are, how it is organized and what its human and financial resources are.
Prosecutor Coşkun also asked KOM to cooperate with the Ankara Police Department Counterterrorism Unit to find out if the Hizmet movement is an armed group and if it may be considered a terrorist organization.
Since a major graft operation became public on Dec. 17 of last year, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is also the AK Party leader, has continuously referred to Hizmet as a terrorist organization that, acting on the orders of foreign powers, is trying to stage a coup against him. He has even likened Hizmet volunteers to hashish-consuming assassins. He has not yet provided any evidence for his claims and accusations.
The prime minister has also complained that the graft investigation was orchestrated by the Hizmet movement and vowed to respond with a counter-operation after the March 30 local elections. He reiterated his threat on Monday. Speaking to a group of reporters, the prime minister said: “We will file hundreds and even thousands of legal cases against them [Hizmet members]. Things will be very different then.” He also said his government is working on a “project” related to these cases, but did not elaborate.
Specter of witch hunt
Prosecutor Coşkun's order to the Ankara Police Department targeting the Hizmet movement is tantamount to a witch hunt.
In the order, the prosecutor defined the movement as the “Fethullah Gülen Congregation” and asked the police department to gather intelligence about its members as well as media organs, civil society organs, private schools, student dormitories, exam preparation schools, companies, foundations and associations affiliated with Hizmet. This intelligence is then likely to be used to initiate an operation against the movement.
To comply, the Ankara Police Department would need to profile all 76 million citizens of Turkey to see whether they have any ties to the Hizmet movement. It was not immediately clear how many of those citizens have been profiled already.
In May, Prime Minister Erdoğan said publicly that his AK Party government would carry out a witch hunt against Hizmet members. He was speaking about thousands of public officials who had been recently reassigned when he said, “If reassigning individuals who betray this country is called a witch hunt, then yes, we will carry out a witch hunt.”
The government, frustrated by the Dec. 17, 2013 government corruption investigation, has been quick to reassign public officials en masse to halt the probe. The probe implicated several Cabinet members who subsequently had to resign, and senior government officials. As many as 20,000 police officers, hundreds of members of the judiciary as well as dozens of bureaucrats in public institutions have been reassigned since Dec. 17. The fact that no internal investigation had been launched before those officials were reassigned and that most of the officials were not given any explanation for their reassignment has led to comments that the government is carrying out a witch hunt against its critics.
In addition, prosecutor Coşkun asked the Ankara Police Department to find out the economic power of the entire movement and see if that power has been used to finance terrorist activities in Turkey.
The request is probably linked to the government's action plan against the Hizmet movement that was mentioned in former minister Şahin's parliamentary question. In his question, Şahin asked if the government had made a plan to find all Hizmet financial resources both inside and outside of Turkey and determine if these resources are being used for terrorist activities or for plans to overthrow the Turkish government.
Şahin addressed his question to Parliament on June 20. No government official has responded thus far.
Şahin said his question is based on documents sent to him by anonymous sources after he stepped down as interior minister. According to those documents, Şahin noted, the Interior Ministry, currently led by Efkan Ala, has recently ordered intelligence officers to investigate the “archives” of the Hizmet movement and gather evidence to launch a police operation against the group. The former minister also added that the government has been using state resources to attack those who sympathize with or are affiliated with the Hizmet movement.
Şahin resigned from the AK Party in December of last year over the government corruption and bribery scandal. When resigning, the former minister stated that the AK Party was under the control of a “narrow oligarchic group.”
Pressure on institutions for action against Hizmet
In his order, prosecutor Coşkun also asked the Ankara police to put pressure on some state institutions to ensure their cooperation against the Hizmet movement.
According to the order, the police must find out how the movement is financed and if it has any income from sources outside Turkey. To this end, the order stated, all judicial bodies, ministries and state institutions, which includes the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the General Staff, the Gendarmerie General Command, the Finance Ministry's Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), the Social Security Institution (SGK), the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), the Capital Markets Board (SPK) and the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF), to provide assistance to the Ankara Police Department to find out how the Hizmet movement is financed.
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