Criminal Complaint Filed Against Media Organizations Publishing Gülen's Speeches

An organization called the Law and Democracy Foundation which was established by lawyer Mehmet Ali Canlı, a Justice and Development Party (AK Party) hopeful in the June 7 general election, on Wednesday filed a criminal complaint against media organizations that publish the speeches of Fethullah Gülen, a renowned Islamic scholar.

The move came a day after Turkish police raided İpek Media Group in a government-backed operation in an attempt to silence media critical of the government.

Canlı, who ran as a deputy in June and failed to be elected to Parliament, made a statement to the press in front of Ankara Courthouse, saying that public prosecutors failed to fulfill their duty by not taking any action against the named media outlets up until now.

The organization also filed a criminal complaint against the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), which Canlı said never imposed any sanctions on the media outlets. The media outlets mentioned in the complaint included TV stations Samanyolu, S Haber, Mehtap, Bugün and Kanaltürk, the newspapers Today's Zaman, Zaman and Meydan, and the website herkül.org.

Canlı also claimed that access to these publications should have been blocked long before he filed his complaint.

The AK Party declared a war against the Gülen movement, so called as it is inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Gülen, after a corruption scandal involving four government ministers and their sons went public on Dec. 17, 2013. In an effort to discredit the graft probes, the government has labeled them as a coup attempt against the government by the Gülen movement. (Cihan/Today’s Zaman)