AFP/DPA

Istanbul

A Turkish court has remanded in custody the head of a national TV network and three former police officers on terrorism charges, in a case linked with a top foe of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that has strained EU ties.

Prosecutors also asked an Istanbul court to issue an arrest warrant for Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Turkish cleric who Erdogan regards as his top enemy, also on terrorism charges.

The court later issued the arrest warrant for Gulen, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Erdogan is in conflict with the Gulenist movement, known as the Hizmet (service) among followers, accusing members of the group of running a “parallel state”.

The court ruling came after a week of arrests targeting media groups and police officers allegedly linked to the Gulenists, a global movement that also has business and educational interests.

The European Union and human rights groups have sharply criticised the dragnet.

Initially, 28 people were arrested on Sunday.

Several were subsequently released and prosecutors asked that 12 be placed under full arrest.

The court, however, ruled for arresting only four people, including Samanyolu Media Group head Hidayet Karaca.

Three senior police officers were also arrested, state-run broadcaster TRT reported.

Ekrem Dumanli, chief of the Zaman newspaper, a mass-circulation daily, was among eight people released but subjected to judicial surveillance and a travel ban, according to the report.

Prosecutors accused Dumanli of being involved in an “armed terrorist organisation”.

Officials had initially said that the arrest of police officers, journalists and broadcasters, were on charges of forgery, fabricating evidence and forming a criminal network seeking to work against the state.

The EU’s criticism of the raids, saying that arresting journalists went against European values, riled Erdogan who has been attacking the bloc this week and warning it to stay out of the country’s internal affairs.

“We don’t care if the EU takes us in or not. Right now we are concentrating on protecting our national safety,” Erdogan said, referencing his country’s EU candidacy. “They say it is about freedom of the press, but it has nothing to do with it.”

Erdogan has been locked in an open battle with Gulen since last year, accusing him of running a “parallel state” and trying to overthrow the government.

Gulen, a one-time Erdogan ally, denies the allegations.

Erdogan started making the charges against the Gulenist global Islamic movement after a corruption scandal implicating top government officials exploded in December last year.

All charges against the officials caught up in the scandal have been dropped.

Zaman’s Dumanli defiantly told hundreds of supporters outside the court after his release that “the press cannot be silenced, media will never succumb to intimidations”.

Gulen is believed to have millions of followers in Turkey and runs private crammer schools around the world through his Hizmet group.

The United States has so far paid little attention to repeated requests from Turkey for Gulen’s extradition from his secluded compound in the state of Pennsylvania.

According to Zaman’s website, Karaca raised his hands after the decision was announced and said: “No need to be worried, God helps. Just as this is an arrest order for a fictional scenario, this is a fictional ruling. Those who made this decision will appear before the court one day.”

His arrest is believed to be linked to a popular drama series on Samanyolu TV (STV), Tek Turkiye (One Turkey), which tells the story of a doctor who goes to work in the Kurdish-majority southeast amid the armed rebellion by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels.

Dumanli denounced the arrests as a “theatre show” and said that the authorities were seeking to cover up “their scandals, sins and corruption”.

“They detained us, but we told them that we are not afraid of being detained, being imprisoned or being hanged – for us, it is no different from attending a wedding ceremony.”

 

 

 

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