Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News on Monday reported that security officials acting at the behest of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had launched a wide-ranging sweep – the outlet described it as taking place across 30 provinces in Turkey – aimed at followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who have been locked in open political warfare with the AKP since a December 2013 graft probe by Gulen-linked judicial and police officials targeted top figures in the Islamist party:
The latest notice directs police to investigate “whether Fethullah Gülen and his movement possess armed force or power enough to topple the government or destroy the Constitution in the event of a possible armed action by the movement’s members serving in the army, gendarmerie forces, security units and National Intelligence Organization [MIT].”
It also requests the reexamination of all major incidents that have taken place in Turkey over the last 10 years, seeking the possible involvement of the Gülen members as perpetrators or abettors. The murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, the murders of three Christian missionaries in 2007, and the attack on the Council of State are among the key incidents that the probe requests be probed.
The notice ordered police to “immediately” locate where the movement allegedly keeps its archives and to conduct raids on these addresses. It will also identify the movement’s members, determine their addresses and seek permission from the authorities to allow monitoring of Gülenists’ phone conversations and electronic communication records.
The probe quickly expanded to ensnare top AKP elites, including Erdogan and members of his family, triggering a series of retaliatory purges that saw thousands of Gulenists expelled from their posts. The recent AKP sweeps have been more ambitious, and have taken place in the context of accusations that Gulenists are actively undermining Turkey’s national security.
The police order, which was dated June 25, has been met with harsh criticism from among others Turkish constitutional law experts:
Former Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Türk, an expert in constitutional law, said the order is a clear indication of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s efforts to “create evidence” for accusations he has been leveling against the Hizmet movement for several months. “The prime minister has picked the Hizmet movement as a target [to attack] since Dec. 17, 2013 [when the major graft investigation became public]. He has accused Hizmet of being a parallel structure and working to overthrow the government. He has also accused the movement of cooperating with foreign powers [to this end]. The accusations have not been proven or supported with any evidence yet. And now they [the prime minister and his government] are apparently working to create evidence for the accusations,” he stated.
Türk also questioned why the TEM head sent his order to only 30 police departments and did not do the same for the departments in the remaining 51 provinces. “In law, there must be reasonable suspicion to blame a suspect. While there is not even a weak suspicion [of Hizmet members’ involvement in a crime], considering an entire community [Hizmet] as potential criminals does not comply with the principles of the state of law and the Constitution. It also violates universal human rights,” the minister added.
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