Daily Sabah
Gülenist rule of law

Gülenist judges who violated the law to put behind bars tens of thousands of people between the years 2009 and 2013, have now issued release verdicts for fellow Gülenists



It was 1994 when Fethullah Gülen, who has been living in Pennsylvania since 1999, delivered the following statements in a sermon. "The existence of our comrades is the guarantee of the future of Islam. From this aspect, their presence in the courts, or in the civil service, or in other service sectors, the existence of our comrades cannot be evaluated as being out of individual obligation. Rather, in these units, they are the guarantee for our future … without having formed a strong front in the constitutional institutions; any step we take will be too early. Until you have reached the correct saturation, until you have the strength to carry the world on your back, until you have laid claim to those things that represent power, until you have formed a powerful front in all of the constitutional institutions that are equivalent to the formation of the state in Turkey, every step you take will be a step too early."Gülen has many speeches of this kind where he orders his followers to infiltrate the state and explains the details of the strategy to be pursued. However, only since Dec. 17, 2013, Turkey has been witnessing the appalling picture of a "state within the state," which has been planned step by step by this structure for a total of 40 years. The major threat posed by the Gülenist formation of its own staff within the state, and particularly by their autonomous structure within the police and judiciary, becomes more apparent with every passing day.Let us take a look at what happened last week. Just as during the Tahşiye case, Gülen said the following in a sermon that was released on the Internet on April 18, 2015, implying that detained Gülenists would be released: "Perhaps some experience Medrese-i Yusufiye behind bars, others pray for them outside day and night. God, release them in the shortest time, very easily."On April 20, just two days after this sermon, Gülenist lawyers appealed to a Gülenist judge, Metin Özçelik, demanding for the denial of all judges who ruled on the Selam Tevhid and Tahşiye cases, where Gülenists were judged. In any case, the denial of all judges at once cannot be demanded. This is the first illegality. Additionally, the Criminal Court of the First Instance cannot decide on a case that is ruled on by the Criminal Court of Peace, a situation that constitutes the second illegality. After all, however, what is in question is Gülenist law, rather than Turkish law.They appealed to Mustafa Başer, another Gülenist judge at the Criminal Court of the First Instance, to demand the release of Gülenist suspects. The Attorney General's Office did not give the case files to Başer because the Criminal Court of Peace, where the cases were held, was beyond Başer's scope of authority. Başer rendered a discharge verdict for all 75 Gülenist suspects, only via documents that were offered by defense lawyers and which even included Google searches. The whole process that led to the release verdict is completely unlawful and this is the very nature of Gülenist law.Gülenist judges who imprisoned tens of thousands of people, including journalists and Kurdish politicians between 2009 and 2013, and who did not give them the right to trial without arrest, rendered discharge verdicts violating the law when it came to fellow Gülenists.Those who analyze the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) election victory in the upcoming general elections should keep in mind that the AK Party is the only party that offers to fight the Gülenist "parallel structure" as its election promise.