Turkey's Case Against Muslim Cleric Gulen Has Merit: US Official.

Turkey's Case Against Muslim Cleric Gulen Has Merit: US Official. (ABC).

 A senior State Department official said Monday that Turkey's contention that a Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric and his followers were involved in the failed coup attempt may have some merit, even as the Obama administration says Turkey has provided little evidence to support their claim.

The official told reporters there are "reasonable grounds" to take the Turkish government's accusations against Gulen seriously. The official held a briefing for reporters but insisted on anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The State Department official said that charity and educational organizations run by Gulen have suspicious structure and financing and look "a lot like the ways in which organized crime sets itself up of folks who are trying to hide money for money laundering" rather than a "benign religious movement."

The briefing comes several days after Turkey's justice minister met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to press the extradition request.  Hmmm....And we all know Attorney General Loretta Lynch who took the fifth is incorruptible.

Read the full story here.

Ankara court prosecutor files lawsuit against Turkish central bank’s head 'for high inflation'.

Ankara court prosecutor files lawsuit against Turkish central bank’s head 'for high inflation'.(HD).

A prosecutor of a court in Ankara, Serif Aydin, filed a lawsuit against the head of Turkey’s central bank, Erdem Basci.

Turkish news channel Haber7 reported that the prosecutor accuses Basci of serious material damage inflicted to Turkey’s citizens as a result of an erroneous interest rate policy of the central bank.

The prosecutor said that, in case of a trial, the Turkish central bank’s head can be imprisoned for up to two years.

On Feb. 10, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized Basci’s work, saying that if the central bank’s head can’t cope with his duties, he will be held accountable.

However, Turkey’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Ali Babacan, said the central bank pursues right monetary policy. Hmmm..........Turkey an investors nightmare..Read the full story here.

Source

Fethullah Gulen: Turkey's leaders are leading the country toward totalitarianism

Fethullah Gulen: Turkey's leaders are leading the country toward totalitarianism. (NYT).

SAYLORSBURG, Pa. — It is deeply disappointing to see what has become of Turkey in the last few years. 

Not long ago, it was the envy of Muslim-majority countries: a viable candidate for the European Union on its path to becoming a functioning democracy that upholds universal human rights, gender equality, the rule of law and the rights of Kurdish and non-Muslim citizens. This historic opportunity now appears to have been squandered as Turkey’s ruling party, known as the A.K.P., reverses that progress and clamps down on civil society, media, the judiciary and free enterprise.

Turkey’s current leaders seem to claim an absolute mandate by virtue of winning elections. But victory doesn’t grant them permission to ignore the Constitution or suppress dissent, especially when election victories are built on crony capitalism and media subservience. The A.K.P.’s leaders now depict every democratic criticism of them as an attack on the state. By viewing every critical voice as an enemy — or worse, a traitor — they are leading the country toward totalitarianism.

The latest victims of the clampdown are the staff, executives and editors of independent media organizations who were detained and are now facing charges made possible by recent changes to the laws and the court system. The director of one of the most popular TV channels, arrested in December, is still behind bars. Public officials investigating corruption charges have also been purged and jailed for simply doing their jobs. An independent judiciary, a functioning civil society and media are checks and balances against government transgressions. Such harassment sends the message that whoever stands in the way of the ruling party’s agenda will be targeted by slander, sanctions and even trumped-up charges.

Turkey’s rulers have not only alienated the West, they are also now losing credibility in the Middle East. Turkey’s ability to assert positive influence in the region depends not only on its economy but also on the health of its own democracy.

The core tenets of a functioning democracy — the rule of law, respect for individual freedoms — are also the most basic of Islamic values bestowed upon us by God.

No political or religious leader has the authority to take them away. It is disheartening to see religious scholars provide theological justification for the ruling party’s oppression and corruption or simply stay silent. Those who use the language and symbols of religious observance but violate the core principles of their religion do not deserve such loyalty from religious scholars.

Turkey has now reached a point where democracy and human rights have almost been shelved. I hope and pray that those in power reverse their current domineering path. In the past the Turkish people have rejected elected leaders who strayed from a democratic path. I hope they will exercise their legal and democratic rights again to reclaim the future of their country. Read the full story here.

Gulen, a Pennsylvania-based Islamic scholar’s passport has been canceled, Turkey tells US.

Gulen, a Pennsylvania-based Islamic scholar’s passport has been canceled, Turkey tells US. (Taz).

Ankara has informed U.S. officials that the Turkish passport of Fethullah Gulen, a Pennsylvania-based Islamic scholar accused of building a “parallel structure” within the Turkish state seeking to topple to the government, has been canceled Hurriyet Daily News reported.

The move comes as Turkey seeks to ramp up pressure on the U.S. to deport Gulen.

Gulen received its passport upon a “false statement,” so it was cancelled on Jan. 28, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Feb. 3.

The report speculated that this could lead to Gulen’s deportation if a similar false statement was used in his application for a U.S. Green Card, quoting Michelle Estlund, an American lawyer specializing on Red Bulletin issues, as well as Turkish lawyers.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said that he wants the U.S. to deport Gulen, referring to coup and spying allegations against suspected sympathizers of his movement.

“I think his deportation, rather than his return to Turkey, would be appreciate,” Erdogan said in an interview broadcast on Jan. 30, calling on Washington to fulfil a task for its “strategic 'sometimes' partner” Turkey.

The Gulen movement is accused of being behind Turkey’s largest ever corruption probe that shook the country in December 2013, including allegations against Erdogan’s family members and a number of former ministers.


The case was subsequently quashed by courts and a parliamentary commission.

'Islamist' Turkey appeals to US for extradition of Gulen.

'Islamist' Turkey appeals to US for extradition of Gulen. (Taz).

Turkey has officially appealed to the US for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic public figure currently residing in the US, Turkish Haber7 TV channel reported Dec.29.

Istanbul City Court demanded today that the US implement its decision on arresting Gulen.

Istanbul City Court issued a decision on Dec.19 to arrest Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of creating a terrorist group and espionage against Turkey.

Turkish police detained the editor-in-chief of Turkish ‘Zaman’ newspaper Ekrem Dumanli, and several employees of the newspaper and Samanyolu TV on suspicion of having ties with the Gulen movement. Read the full story here.

Video - 'Islamist' Erdogan's Hate Speech against The Gulen Movement

Hmmm.........Projectionism projecting is when someone puts their own issues on someone else, i.e. it is when a person attributes his/her own thoughts/feelings/behaviors to/on to another person, and a/or a group of ppl, and an/or an organization.

Projectionism is particularly common among racists and other bigots. They will commonly make bigoted comments and then deny that they are bigots; and further defend themselves by accusing the person that normally initially accuses them first of being the very thing that they more often than not end up accusing the other person of being.

Gulen movement behind arrest warrants for Israeli generals, trying to provoke Israel - Turkey Armed conflict?

Gulen movement behind arrest warrants for Israeli generals, trying to provoke Israel - Turkey Armed conflict?HT: AlMonitor.

Just as relations between Turkey and Israel were on a positive course, with negotiations continuing on compensation and natural gas pipelines, where did this outlandish decision come from? It is a futile decision which can never be implemented and makes a mockery of Turkey. 

I immediately contacted figures close to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and President Abdullah Gul to discuss the issue.

Without exception, all the sources I spoke to were amazed by the court’s decision. There was not a single one who found it normal and reasonable. They all said such a decision in a symbolic court case, just as the normalization process was making headway, was noteworthy and asked why now, after four years, when it was clear that it would never be put into practice.

The Jerusalem Post newspaper two weeks ago had reported that Israel has agreed to pay $21 million to the families of the victims.

A source close to the Foreign Ministry told me that if the two countries finalized their agreement, this court decision would be pointless, as the agreement would provide for canceling all court actions. (Paying Diyya cancels all further procedures)When I asked him to assess the decision for Al-Monitor, he said the timing was bizarre.

All sources close to government and the presidency were startled by the court ruling when there was a decision at the top state level to normalize relations with Israel. Then where did it come from?

Was it the Gulen Movement, which still has major influence in the judiciary, that concocted such a decision to halt the Turkey-Israel normalization? My inside sources all say, “Yes.”

Both Gulenists and other anti-Erdogan circles in Turkey will say the negotiations process between Turkey and Israel has collapsed.

The obsession with Erdogan in Turkey has come to such a point that there are even those who have gone bonkers enough to ask for a Turkey-Israel war just to topple Erdogan. Erdogan’s extreme hard-line narratives sustain this polarization.Hmmm.....BS  The IHH who pushed for the Arrest warrants are AKP joined, just trying to blame the Gulen movement for their own desires.
 .Read the full story here.

Francis Ricciardone: "U.S. ready to fulfill Turkey’s demand to extradite Gulen if proven guilty"

Francis Ricciardone: "U.S. ready to fulfill Turkey’s demand to extradite Gulen if proven guilty."(Taz).

The U.S. is ready to fulfill Turkey's demand to extradite Fethullah Gulen [Islamic public figure currently residing in the U.S] if his guilt is proved, Francis Ricciardone, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, said Tuesday.

A criminal case has not been launched against Gulen and therefore his extradition from the U.S. is impossible, Ricciardone said, according to Turkish Sabah newspaper.

Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it is possible to extradite Gulen, who he claims interferes in Turkey's internal affairs, helping to destabilize the situation in the country.

Turkish Justice Minister, Bekir Bozdag also previously said Fethullah Gulen can be put on the international wanted list, however, a court decision is necessary.

Turkish media reported on Feb. 25 that in 2011 telephone conversations of about 7,000 people associated with the representatives of both the ruling and opposition parties, including family members of Turkish PM were wiretapped as part of the anti-terrorist operation carried out by the Istanbul prosecutor's office against the Salam terrorist organization.

The telephone conversations of Turkish intelligence head Hakan Fidan were also wiretapped during the anti-terrorist operations.

Following this, Prime Minister Erdogan accused Gulen and representatives of his movement of standing behind the wiretapping of the phone conversations.

Erdogan also stressed that Gulen movement, which he earlier called a "parallel structure", proved with its anti-state activities that it is not a religious movement, but a politicized and illegal structure.

Turkish PM called on Gulen not to intervene in Turkey's internal affairs and accused the U.S. of supporting him.

The council member of Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party, Mazhar Bagli said that all the actions of Gulen and his supporters are aimed at undermining the country's national interests.

Gulen is the founder of the Hizmet public movement, as well as, the Turkish Journalists and Writers Foundation.

Previously the U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf also said Gulen's extradition is out of question.

Harf said the U.S. and Turkey are allies, but that does not mean that the two countries share the same opinion in all issues.

Earlier it was reported that Gulen requested political asylum in Canada. Gulen made this decision after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed the possibility of his extradition from the United States.Aside from Canada, Gulen also asked for political asylum in New Zealand.Hmmm.......Erdogan Obama's BFF.

Video - Fethullah Gulen Denies Links With Turkish Corruption Scandal in BBC interview.

Video - Fethullah Gulen Denies Links With Turkish Corruption Scandal in BBC interview.More here at BBC.

Obama's BFF Erdogan threatens to expel foreign ambassadors.

Obama's BFF Erdogan threatens to expel foreign ambassadors.(TOI).

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened on Saturday to expel foreign ambassadors from Turkey, following what he termed “provocative actions” on their part amid an ongoing corruption investigation that has shaken his government.

“Some ambassadors are engaged in provocative actions … Do your job,” Erdogan said in televised remarks.“We don’t have to keep ambassadors in the country who exceed the limits of their duty,” he added.

Erdogan did not name names but the remarks were considered a warning to US Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone, who, according to pro-Erdogan media outlets, had told EU envoys that Washington had advised the state-run Turkish bank Halkbank to cut ties with Iran.

“We asked Halkbank to cut its links with Iran. They did not listen to us. You are watching the collapse of an empire,” Ricciardone was quoted as telling EU ambassadors, according to remarks carried by AFP based on reports in Aksam, Bugun, Yeni Safak and Star newspapers.

Ricciardone on Saturday denied the media reports as “baseless allegations,” in his Twitter account in the Turkish language. ”Nobody should put US-Turkish relations into jeopardy through baseless allegations,” he said, according to AFP

The head of Halkbank was arrested earlier this week along with the sons of two government ministers in the investigation, bringing the total number of those detained to 24. The private Dogan news agency said the ministers’ sons and other suspects were accused of taking or facilitating bribes. The son of a third minister and a construction magnate were freed from custody pending trial.

Istanbul police said they seized shoeboxes stashed with $4.5 million in cash at the home of the bank chief.

According to Businessweek, “police have said the inquiry targets organized graft, money laundering and gold smuggling.”

The police raids have threatened to rock Erdogan’s 11-year tenure.

Many believe the police operation is the fallout of a deepening rift between Erdogan’s government and a powerful US-based moderate Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whose followers are reported to have a strong foothold within Turkey’s police and judiciary.

Erdogan said the corruption investigation is a “dirty operation” to unsettle his government and has vowed to go after those who have instigated it. The Turkish PM has also indicated that there was an “international dimension” to the probe.Hmmmm......"International Dimension".....Read 'Zionist plot'.

Related: 

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen curses purge of Turkish police officials in emotional speech.

Turkey Will Either Lose Obama's BFF Erdogan or Democracy.

Turkey Will Either Lose Obama's BFF Erdogan or Democracy.

Turkey Will Either Lose Obama's BFF Erdogan or Democracy.(Aina).By Marc Champion

Bloomberg

There are two reasons Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may not survive the current government corruption scandals in Turkey. And if he does, the cost to the "Turkish model" will be enormous.

The first is, well, the corruption charges. An important key to the success of the AK, or Justice and Development, Party that Erdogan helped to create in 2001 lay in its initials: AK means "white" in Turkish, and it can also mean "pure." Turks were sick of the unaccountable corruption of previous governments. The AK Party rode a promise of purity to power.

Suddenly, the AK Party is looking decidedly grubby. Yes, the 89 people who have been detained so far in the corruption and money-laundering probe are all innocent until proven otherwise. And yes, the prosecutors in charge are the same ones who based the so-called Sledgehammer trial against the military on forged documents. Still, the three simultaneous cases that have been initiated, as outlined in the news media, are damaging.
One case, for example, involves about $70 million worth of alleged bribes connected to an Azerbaijani businessman, who is accused of running cash into Russia and trading gold into Iran and is now under arrest. Police found $4.5 million stuffed into shoe boxes at the home of another suspect, Suleyman Aslan, the general manager of state-run Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS.

That's a lot of money even for Jimmy Choos. This is the same bank that was the focus of a May 14 letter, signed by 47 U.S. congressmen, complaining about its gold-swap financing of trade with Iran.

So far, no cabinet ministers have been arrested, but the sons of three have been detained. According to the latest Turkish news media reports, prosecutors have asked parliament to lift the immunity that was granted to their fathers as well as a fourth minister.

All of this makes Erdogan vulnerable. He was already weakened because the coalition of religious conservatives, nationalists and liberals he had built since 2001 had disintegrated by the end of this summer's Gezi Park protests. Now he is also at war with former close allies among his religious conservative base, a group led by faith leader Fetullah Gulen.

Precisely because Erdogan has concentrated power so closely around himself in just a few men, any perception that they are corrupt will immediately infect his personal image and support. This is why Erdogan hasn't fired the four ministers: He says the allegations against them are part of a plot to unseat him. My guess is that he's right, but his response gets to the second reason Erdogan may not survive, despite being far stronger than Gulen: himself.

To make it stick and purge Gulen's supporters from the police force, prosecutor's office and courts, Erdogan will have to crack down in ways that will destroy what remains of Turkey's independent law enforcement institutions and media freedoms. That will deal a huge blow to the so-called Turkish model, the idea that Turkey had cracked the code for implementing genuine democracy in the Muslim world. And that would be a tragedy, because the Turkish model is real and important, if overhyped, oversimplified and already under strain.Hmmm.....As i Always said "SANCTIONS THAT BENEFIT".Read the full story here.

(Marc Champion is a Bloomberg View editorial board member. Follow him on Twitter.)

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen curses purge of Turkish police officials in emotional speech.

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen curses purge of Turkish police officials in emotional speech.(TZ).

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has cursed those responsible for a purge of police officials involved in a corruption investigation, in his first comments on the case that has struck at the heart of the ruling elite.

Gülen's words, invoking God's punishment, was first curse in his life and came four days after the sweeping raids that resulted in the arrest of sons of ministers, businessmen and public officials, including the chief of biggest state bank.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called the detention of scores of people seen as close to the government a "dirty operation" aimed at undermining his rule. Dozens of police chiefs have been removed from their posts since the detentions began.Erdoğan has refrained from naming Gülen as the hand behind the investigation and he referred to an “illegal gang within the state” and systematically purged officials, including journalists in public broadcasters.

"...Those who don't see the thief but go after those trying to catch the thief, who don't see the murder but try to defame others by accusing innocent people - let God bring fire to their houses, ruin their homes, break their unities," Gülen said in a video recording uploaded to herkul.org, a website that usually publishes his speeches.

Gülen first recalled his earlier teachings and reminded that he always emphasized that individual crimes should not be made public and that Muslims should keep flaws of others “secret.”

He added that the important part of the respect to humans is to embrace them wholeheartedly and that treat them as “you treat with your own child.”He said a Muslim should behave according to the teachings of Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad regardless of how others behave. “In this framework, being occupied with someone else’s flaws is absolutely not a right thing,” Gülen added.

Gülen said there is an “assymetrical assault” on the Hizmet movement and that there is an effort to finish it off. He urged members of the Hizmet movement to stand firm and trust in God.

Gülen said some crimes constitute a “violation of rights of the public” and that the Islamic law and modern legal system don’t allow “tolerance” in these cases.

“The issue is about the rights of the public. If the public property is being robbed, you cannot somehow soften this [crime] by either regulations or demagogy and dialectics. This is the right of the public. ... If someone overlooks this, then they are acting jointly with that thiefs. There you cannot ignore that,” Gülen underlined.

He stated that blaming others for the crimes they committed in the hope of distracting the agenda is a “dialectic to the religion and the fundamental basics of the religion.” 

He noted that this amounts to doubling of the crime. “If those who go after these negative things.. I don’t know who they are.. If those who go after these [corruption allegations] because it is essential for the law as well as the system, for the religion as well as democracy and if they (police officials) … have done things that are in contrary to the spirit of the religion… and they’re counting us in so that I will also refer to us.. if they have done things that are in contrary to the spirit of the religion, if things they have done are in contrary to the fundamental disciplines of Qur’an, if it is against the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, if it is against the Islamic law, against the modern law, against the accepted rules of democracy today.. then may God bury us and them into the earth, bring fire to their houses, ruin their homes.

But if this is not the case, those who don’t see the thief but go after those trying to catch the thief, who don’t see the murder but try to defame others by defame innocent people – may God bring fire to their houses, ruin their homes, break their unities, keep their feelings (wishes) within their chests, block their path, prevent them from being something.”

He said he was unable to prevent himself from saying what he has just said. He added that he remained silent for a long time although “they showed their teeth ... provocated so many people, all those damned thoughts spread around without a visa on Twitter,” but that he can no longer be silent. “And I said what I haven’t so far,” Gülen added.Hmmmm.....Something tells me Turkey is in for a very hot 'Turkish Spring'.

Related:  "The Just Us Department"  - New law: Police chiefs have to inform superiors, governors before investigation

More Dangerous than bin Laden? Protestors to Descend on Gulen’s Mountain Fortress in Pennsylvania.

More Dangerous than bin Laden? Protestors to Descend on Gulen’s Mountain Fortress in Pennsylvania.HT: FamilySecuritymatters.By PAUL L. WILLIAMS, PHD:

A protest against Fethullah Gulen and his movement will take place on Saturday, August 31, at Logging Road in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. The rally is set to start at 2 p.m. and hundreds of Turkish Americans are expected to be in attendance.

The purpose of the event, according to organizer Armagan Yilmaz, is “to warn the American people” about Gulen, “a man even more dangerous than Osama Bin Laden.”
This description, Mr. Yilmaz insists, is not hyperbole. Gulen has been responsible for the transformation of secular Turkey into an Islamic state with 85,000 active mosques – - one for every 350- citizens – - the highest number per capita in the world, 90,000 imams, more imams than teachers and physicians – - and thousands of state-run Islamic schools.
Gulen accomplished this through the creation of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma, AKP) which now controls the Turkish government.
Within the past ten years, Mr. Yilmaz says, everyone who has opposed the militant Islamization of Turkey has been murdered or tossed into prison. Several Turks who escaped from the oppression are scheduled to speak at the gathering, including former Tirkish Admiral Turker Erturk and noted journalists and authors Baris Terkoglu and Baris Pehlivan.

Fethulah Gulen came to the United States in 1998 and settled in Saylorsburg after an arrest warrant on the charge of sedition was issued in his native Turkey.Court records from his hearing for permanent U.S. residency show that his financial holdings are enormous, exceeding $25 billion. With these funds, he has established schools throughout Turkey and Central Asia to bring about his dream of “a New Islamic World Order.”

Several countries have outlawed the establishment of Gulen schools within their borders – - including Russia and Uzbekistan. Even the Netherlands, a nation that embraces pluralism and tolerance, has opted to cut funding to the Gulen schools because of their threat to the social order.
In recent years, Gulen has established over 140 charter schools – - all fully funded by U.S. taxpayers allegedly as a means of indoctrinating American students in his militant ideology.
“Under the pretext of being qualified teachers hundreds of unqualified disciples are brought from Turkey to the United States with an H1B visa to work at these schools,” Mr. Yilmaz says. “These teachers are to return 40% of their salaries to the movement in cash which then funds the movement. This way not only is the funding of the movement illegal but also tax fraud is committed.”
The thirty-four “Gulen-inspired” Harmony Schools throughout the Lone Star State have been established at an annual expense to Texas taxpayers of $68 million. The schools are operated by the Cosmos Foundation, a mysterious non-profit corporation with headquarters in Houston. In an interview with this reporter, Sonar Tarim, the superintendent of the schools and a member of the Cosmos Foundation, said: “We have no ties to Fethullah Gulen or his movement.” While Mr. Tarim admitted that the schools participate in the Turkish Olympiad, an event organized by Gulen, he expressed surprise that all of his schools were constructed by Turkish construction companies that reportedly are affiliated with Gulen and his movement.

*****

Osman Nori, the retired head of Turkish intelligence, recently alleged that the Gulen movement has served as a front for US intelligence by sheltering 130 CIA agents in its schools throughout Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
This claim collaborates the testimony of Sybil Edmonds, a former FBI translator and celebrated whistleblower. Ms. Edmonds says that Gulen and his movement began to receive vast sums of money from the CIA in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, when US officials realized that they could not obtain control of the massive energy resources of the newly created Russian republics because of a deep-seated suspicion of American motives.
The CIA, Ms. Edmonds maintains, came to view Turkey as a perfect “proxy” for US interests since it was a NATO ally that shared the same language, culture, and religion as the other Central Asian countries. But centralized control of these republics, she points out, could only be actualized by the creation of the Pan-Turkish nationalism and religion, envisioned by Gulen and his followers. And so, according to Ms. Edmonds, the CIA became Gulen’s partner in the creation of the New Islamic World Order. The money for the pasha’s schools and settlements, she says, came not from congressionally-approved funding but rather from covert CIA operations, including narcotics trafficking, nuclear black market, weapons smuggling, and terrorist activities.
Although Gulen and his defenders have refuted this testimony, a Department of Justice inspector general’s report called Ms. Edmond’s allegations “credible,” “serious,” and warranting a full and complete review. Ranking Senate Judiciary Committee members Pat Leahy (D-Vermont) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have offered her public backing. “60 Minutes,” the CBS news program, launched an investigation of her statements only to find them truthful and substantial. No one has ever disputed any of Ms. Edmonds’ revelations which she says can be verified by FBI investigative files.
Despite Gulen’s global ambitions, he continues to be presented as a moderate Muslim, who champions the causes of tolerance, peace, and good-will. Dalia Mogahed, the first Muslim woman to serve as a member of the White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, says that the Gulen movement “offers people a model of what is possible if a dedicated group of people work together for the good of society.”
Read more: Family Security Matters
Paul L. Williams is the author of Crescent Moon Rising: The Islamic Transformation of America, The Day of Islam: The Annihilation of America and the Western World, The Al Qaeda Connection, and other best-selling books. He is a frequent guest on such national news networks as ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR.

Obama's BFF the Islamist government of Turkey is building a 15-acre, $100 million mega-mosque in Lanham, Maryland.

Obama's BFF the Islamist government of Turkey is building a 15-acre, $100 million mega-mosque in Lanham, Maryland.(ClarionProject).by: Ryan Mauro.

The Islamist government of Turkey is building a 15-acre, $100 million mega-mosque in Lanham, Maryland. Prime Minister Erdogan visited the site on May 15 in a ceremony that was attended by the leaders of two groups linked to the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. 

Also present was the Maryland Secretary of State, representing Maryland Governor and likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2016, Martin O’Malley.
The mega-mosque is called the Turkish American Culture and Civilization Center and, according to the Muslim Link,  it “will likely become the largest and most striking examples of Islamic architecture in the western hemisphere” when it is finished in 2014. The Muslim Link explicitly says it is “a project of the government of Turkey.”
On May 15, Prime Minister Erdogan spoke to hundreds of people at the construction site and said he’d come back for the opening ceremony next year. He warned the audience that there are groups promoting “Islamophobia,” branding potential critics as paranoid bigots. Erdogan recently said that “Islamophobia” and Zionism are equivalent to fascism and anti-Semitism, saying they are a “crime against humanity.”
On the same trip to the U.S., Erdogan brought a special guest: The father of one of the Islamists killed in Israel’s 2010 raid on a Turkish flotilla that tried to break Israel’s legal blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Erdogan reportedly wanted to him to meet President Obama.
The site will have five buildings, including a mosque “constructed using 16^th century Ottoman architecture that can hold 750 worshipers.” The site’s design reinforces concerns that Turkey wants to restore its glory days as the Ottoman Empire.
The event was also attended by the leaders of two U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entities.
The first, Naeem Baig, is the president of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). A 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood memo, which says its “work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within,” lists ICNA as one of “our organizations and the organizations of our friends.” It even refers to meetings with ICNA with talk about a merger.
ICNA is linked to the Pakistani Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami and its conferences feature radical speakers. A former ICNA president was recently indicted for horrific war crimes committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 succession from Pakistan – the torture and murder or 18 political opponents.
The second official from a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity that attended the event was Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). ISNA and several of its components are listed as U.S. Muslim Brotherhood fronts in the same 1991 Brotherhood memo. ISNA was also an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case, dubbed the largest Islamic terror-funding trial in the history of the U.S.  Federal prosecutors in the case also listed ISNA as a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity.
The Turkish government has been quietly spreading its influence in the U.S., but this is the most blatant example. In October, The Clarion Project reported on the growing ties between the Turkish government and Native American tribes. With Congress' help, thousands of Turkish contractors and their families may be flooding into America's heartland and settling in semi-autonomous zones of the Native Americans, well out of the reach of American authorities.
In November, The Clarion Project reported on the Turkish Fethullah Gulen school network in America, which is currently under FBI investigation. The network is the largest charter school network in America.  It is the same network that has been a critical component in Turkey’s regression from a secular democracy into an Islamic state.
Islamist-Watch.org‘s director Marc Fink has said that the Erdogan’s AKP party is “often associated with Turkish neo-Ottomanism – the desire to re-establish the Caliphate and unify the Middle East – and later the world – under Turkish Islamist rule and hegemony.”
Erdogan and his Islamist government calls Israel a “terrorist state” but calls Hamas a “resistance” group. Not surprisingly, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is a big admirer of Erdogan.

Since taking office in 2003, Erdogan has been implementing his Islamist agenda, slowly but steadily changing Turkey from a secular democracy to an Islamist state. College admissions have been changed to favor religious students, the military has been gutted of its secular generals (with one in five generals currently in prison on dubious charges) and women have been routed out of top government jobs. 

Honor killings in Turkey increased 1,400 percent between 2002 and 2009. Persecution of artists and journalists has become commonplace as opponents are charged with vague crimes like “denigrating Islam” and “denigrading the state.”
The Turkish American Culture and Civilization Project will be the largest Islamic site in the Western Hemisphere. At the same time, Turkey is building a new mega-mosque in Istanbul with the tallest minarets in the world.
The construction project in Maryland is about more than a mega-mosque. It’s symbol of how Turkey aspires to lead the Islamic ummah, including the American Muslim community.Hmmmm.....“Thank God Almighty,” said Mr. Erdogan in 1994, when he was the mayor of Istanbul. “I am a servant of Shariah.”Read the full story here.

Turkey's 'secret-keeper': spy chief Hakan Fidan, the 'Iranian Connection'?

Turkey's 'secret-keeper': spy chief Hakan Fidan, the 'Iranian Connection'?(F24).

The head of Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan, is the driving force behind the state's clandestine peace talks with a jailed Kurdish rebel chief that aim to end a bloody three-decade insurgency.

Low-profile Fidan, 45, was appointed to the top spy seat by close ally Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in May 2010.

Fidan took part in peace talks with senior figures from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Oslo in 2009, which unravelled in 2011 when secret recordings were leaked to the media revealing the talks.

After the failed negotiations, Erdogan's government delegated Fidan to hold talks with PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence in the isolated prison island of Imrali.

When state prosecutors last year asked the senior intelligence official to shed light on whose authority the agency held the Oslo talks, Erdogan publicly voiced support for his ally.

"It was me who sent him to Oslo and to Imrali," the premier said.

"He is my secret-keeper, he is the state's secret-keeper," Erdogan said, describing Fidan as a "very well-trained bureaucrat." Details about the spy's life are largely confidential because of his role at the top of Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT).

According to a brief resume on the MIT's official website, Fidan served in the Turkish Armed Forces as a non-commissioned officer. He also worked at NATO's Germany-based Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.

The married father-of-three has a bachelor's degree in political science and government from the University of Maryland University College in the United States. He also earned a master's and a doctoral degree at Ankara's private Bilkent University. Local media say he fostered ties with an influential Islamic movement headed by Fethullah Gulen, who lives in exile in the United States, during his four-year tenure at TIKA.

The Gulen movement, which has dozens of schools abroad, is considered close to Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), in power since 2002.

Before he was appointed the new head of MIT, Fidan worked in Erdogan's office as a deputy undersecretary. He is also known to have worked closely with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Following Fidan's MIT appointment in 2010, Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the Israeli defence establishment, particularly Mossad, viewed his promotion with concern, accusing him of steering Turkey away from the Jewish state and closer to Iran.

The paper cited unnamed Israeli sources as speculating that Fidan, along with Erdogan and Davutoglu, orchestrated a change in Turkish-Israeli ties.

In an opinion piece last year, the daily Haber-Turk editor in chief Fatih Altayli claimed that Erdogan was grooming Fidan for the post of prime minister.

"He (Erdogan) brings Fidan along in many important talks with foreign heads of state. It feels like he is considering Hakan Fidan for an important mission in the future," Altayli said.Read the full story here.

Fethullah Gulen’s Movement to be featured on 60 Minutes; San Diego Mayoral candidate beholden to Gulenists?

Fethullah Gulen’s Movement to be featured on 60 Minutes; San Diego Mayoral candidate beholden to Gulenists?(Shoebat).This is essentially a two-part post having to do with separate developments relative to Turkish Imam Fethullah Gulen.
First, set your DVR for this week’s installment of 60 Minutes as Leslie Stahl will be doing a feature on Gulen.
Via Donna Garner at Education News:

I do not know whether this Sunday’s 60 Minutes TV show with Lesley Stahl will contain honest reporting on the Turkish-Gulen Charter Schools or not, but hopefully it will. One thing that gives me hope is that the Gulenists are worried; this tells me that their usual propaganda techniques and obfuscation may not have worked with 60 Minutes.
Dr. Soner Tarim is the ONLY superintendent of the huge network of 36 Turkish-Gulen-Cosmos Foundation-Harmony Schools in Texas. These charter schools in Texas are supported with our tax dollars. Dr. Tarim sent out an e-mail blast to his supporters warning them about this 60 Minutes show and telling them that he refused to be interviewed for it.
Taxpayers should be very suspicious that Dr. Tarim has refused to make himself accessible to the press. Neither does Dr. Soner Tarim make himself accessible to the parents of the children in these schools.
I have had a number of parents write to me complaining that they have tried to contact their child’s school superintendent (Dr. Tarim) and could not get through to him.

This story very well could lead to legitimate questions being posed to current Democratic Congressman Bob Filner, who is currently running for Mayor of San Diego; he appears to have a disturbingly cozy relationship with the Gulenists and is to some degree beholden to them.Hmmmm......Gulen......Erdogan......Obama......Democrats.Obama Blames “Founding Fathers” For Making It Difficult For Him To “Bring Change”But..."I will keep plotting".Read and see (Video) the full story here.