"Allegations Against Gülen are Fraudulent and Baseless"
In a televised speech of the 7th Turkish President Kenan Evren about Fethullah Gülen, Orhan Erdemli, Gülen's lawyer, accused the former president of "making untrue statements" about Gülen.
"Mr. Evren caused unfortunate feelings to stir up when he said Gülen does not wear a necktie because it is a symbol of the Republic. My client has never been an opponent of the republican system; on the contrary, he has supported it."
Erdemli issued a written statement about Evren's televised speech on "Genc Bakis," a program broadcast live on Kanal D, a Turkish satellite network.
Erdemli blamed the former president for making groundless and unfounded statements.
Evren said that two professors paid a visit to him on behalf of Gülen on an occasion when those professors bribed him with a watch. In response to this, Erdemli said in his written statement: "Although he [Evren] rendered my client as a person involved in bribery, he declined to identify those two professors. My client has never bribed anyone or assigned someone else to bribe for himself. As well known, it is a rule of universal law that one is innocent until proven guilty, accuser has to support his accusation with substantial proof. Mr. Evren is under an obligation to identify those two professors, to disclose their link, if any, to Gülen, and to prove his accusation true. Or else, the public opinion of Evren will always be that he is someone who makes baseless remarks about other people only to incriminate them."
Evren said that Gülen did not wear a necktie because it was the symbol of the republican system of government; therefore, when asked to come to the meeting with a tie, Gülen declined to do so.
"There is nothing truthful in these statements," Erdemli rebuffed. "For one thing, the idea that a tie is the symbol of a republican system of government is indefensible. Otherwise, we would all have to perceive anyone walking down the street without a necktie as the enemies of the Republic.
When asked to comment on Gülen not wearing a necktie when he was a civil servant as a mufti in Izmir, Evren said Gülen has never worn a tie. In fact, my client has never been a mufti, and what is more; there are perhaps dozens, or hundreds of pictures of him with a necktie that have been published in several newspapers or magazines so far. A look at photographs of my client with his friends would tell us that his friends also wear a tie. Such things are sufficient to prove the statements of Mr. Evren were groundless and unfounded."
Praising coups is real Anti-Democratic understanding
Erdemli emphasized Evren's words of: "We sent him to the court in the 1980 Military Coup period. He went to the Martial Law Court in Izmir, but he was acquitted there. What could we do, the judges acquitted him," did not reflect the truth about Gülen
"Unfortunately it seems Kenan Evren's memory is misleading him as he gets older," Erdemli denied "because my client was not tried in the Martial Law Court in Izmir during the 1980 military coup period."
Gülen's lawyer said there was an investigation about Gülen in 1986 but the court decided to dismiss the case.
Erdemli harshly reacted to Evren's statements that "There are Ataturk's pictures hung on the walls of Gülen schools and they are good schools providing all kinds of services to their students, but the real inferiorities occur outside the schools."
"The public," Erdemli answered, "very well knows that Fethullah Gülen does not have any schools in reality. Is it not admirable that these schools were never accused of any illegal activities so far? Evren's words about these schools, which are always praised for their success, have no ground. Normally we, as ordinary people, blush even when we hear the word "inferiority" on the street. Then, how can someone, who was the president of Turkey once, use this word during a TV program?"
Gülen's lawyer also noted in his statement that a group of lawyers from Izmir Bar Association issued a complaint to Mugla Office of the Public Prosecutor about Evren's remarks.
"This statement of complaint was announced by the media also. In fact, this report revealed Evren's great contradiction in front of the entire public opinion. The contradiction is: Is not wearing a necktie an opposition to democracy and the Republic even if the accusations are against the reality? Or, is praising military coups, supporting them and expecting more of them an opposition to democracy and the Republic?"
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