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| The Grand Turk |
| Erdogan is Worse Than Army, Arch-Rival Says |
| 2014-03-18 |
| [An Nahar] An influential Mohammedan holy man locked in a bitter feud with the Turkish government has said the pressure piled on his movement now is "10 times worse" than in the era of military coups, in a rare interview published Monday. U.S.-exiled Fethullah Gulen stands accused by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi only they haven't dumped him yet... of using his influence in Turkey's police and judiciary to instigate a corruption probe to topple his Islamic-rooted government. "What we are seeing today is 10 times worse than what we saw during the military coups," Gulen told the daily Zaman, affiliated with his movement. Gulen's Hizmet (Service) movement used to be an important backer of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), which came to power in 2002. The two worked together to curb the influence of the army, the self-declared guardians of the secular state, which staged three coups since 1960 and forced out an Islamist government in 1997. But the alliance shattered in mid-December, when dozens of the premier's political and business allies were detained in police raids on bribery and corruption allegations. The scandal, which brought down four ministers and prompted a cabinet reshuffle, has evolved into the most serious challenge yet to Erdogan's 11-year-rule. The premier has labeled the corruption probe a "dirty plot" by supporters of the holy man to undermine his government ahead of local elections on March 30 and a presidential vote in August, but Gulen has repeatedly denied any involvement. Erdogan himself has been implicated in the corruption controversy with leaked recordings in which he can allegedly be heard talking to his son about hiding large sums of money. Erdogan has responded to the graft probe by publicly attacking Gulen and sacking hundreds of police and prosecutors believed to be linked to his ally-turned-rival. The AKP-dominated parliament has also passed a law to shut down a network of private preparatory schools, many of which are run by Hizmet and are a major source of income for the movement. |
| Posted by:Fred |