DGM Continues to Try Gülen

Ankara State Security Court (DGM) continued yesterday to try Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, accused of forming a gang in order to found a state depending on Islamic rules by changing the secular state order. Gülen faces 10 years imprisonment if found guilty.

Gülen's three lawyers attended Monday's hearing of the case. Lawyer Abdulkadir Aksoy claimed that an organization plotted against his client, Gülen with a videocassette of a program broadcast on Isik TV. The program included a phone conversation between Contemporary Education Foundation Chairman Gulseren Yaser and one of her friends. Students, sympathetic to the PKK, were offered money and jobs to testify against Gülen.

Public Prosecutor Nuh Mete Yuksel demanded the court to testify about the claims. Yuksel also said that the investigation launched into Turkish Police regarding the pro-Fethullah structuring in the Police, continued for a long while and demanded the court to ask for the report of this investigation.

Court chairman Huseyin Eken decided that Istanbul DGM should be asked whether they launched an investigation into Yaser and her friends. He also ordered that a written statement, asking the report on the Pro-Fethullah structuring in the Police, to the Turkish Police General Directorate. Eken then suspended the case. 2002-02-07 00:00:00