Coup plotters have no shortage of shady religious groups to use

The use of religious communities for the purposes of the plan penned by Col. Dursun Çiçek to create chaos is discussed in the section titled “Media activities.” Here, the plan says, “We will make sure that the agents who we keep available and ready for action undertake provocative actions and discourses.” It suggests that these actions should be linked to other groups, especially the Gülen movement. The plan further advises that journalist Nurettin Veren, known for his criticism of the Gülen movement, and the Kurdoğlu religious community should be employed for this purpose. Several religious communities are mentioned in this plan, which was devised to manipulate politics and society.

 Evrenesoğlu, who prefers to call himself Imam İskender Ali Mihr, currently lives in the United States and manages his Mihr religious community from there. The Mihr Foundation and the University of Allah, of which he is the rector, also operate in the US. The religious community’s media organs include the monthly Mihr journal, Nur TV and Nur Radio as well as Mihr TV and radio. Evrenesoğlu claims to be a “messenger,” but he was a member of the Turkish Workers’ Party (TİP) in the past. Having claimed to have seen God and talked to Him, Evrenesoğlu has followers in Denizli, İstanbul and other cities in Turkey and also in the US. Hafize Zümrüt Çulhaoğlu, the sister of retired Rear Adm. Ali Deniz Kutluk, who was among the officers reported by Ergenekon prosecutor Zekeriya Öz to the General Staff as part of a probe into a group of military academy students planning a coup, and his cousins Tarık Gürel, Ahmet Fatih Kutluk and Kemal Ufuk Kutluk are reported to be followers of Evrenesoğlu.

A prolific writer?

Ömer Öngüt, who calls his followers Hakikatçiler (pro-truth people), lives in Sakarya. Öngüt conducts his activities via the Hakikat (Truth) Foundation and also owns the Hakikat Publishing House and the monthly Hakikat journal. Although he has no formal education, Öngüt has written many books on religious subjects. He was once investigated by police in connection to his remarks about organ donation in which he claimed that the experts who give the go-ahead for organ donation are killers, adding, “A person who donates his organs will be thrown into boiling water with an iron ring around his neck.” Öngüt constantly raises accusations about other religious groups and communities, and he claimed in a book he wrote that Gülen and his followers are blasphemers. Öngüt has followers in Sakarya, Düzce, Bursa and Ankara.

The Kurdoğlu group, led by Mehmet Kurdoğlu, and active mainly in Ankara and Central Anatolia, is said to be a branch of the Nur (Light) religious community. This group is distinguished from other groups by its more closed structure.

In Turkey, there are many other religious communities that are prepared to take action as part of the plan prepared by elements within the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). The movement led by Dursun Güneş, the founder of the Rights and Truth Party (HHP), is an example of such a community. Güneş started his movement in 1990. He later embarked on a political career and established his political party in 2008. Güneş claims that when his party assumes office, the elites will have to leave the country. “They should escape from the country before the HHP comes to power. They should leave everything behind and escape. Otherwise the HHP will strip them of their clothes and send them to their God naked. Hanging and other forms of execution will be allowed,” he said, drawing the ire of many groups in the country.

Not a religious order, but a philosophical movement    

Abdülkadir Duru, who has been publishing the Özden newspaper since 1970, has developed what he calls the “Örgünöz” movement as he does not like religious orders. Duru argues that adopting the Örgünöz ideas is enough for the weak to become strong, for the passive to become active, for the incompetent to become successful, for the oppressed to become powerful, for the downtrodden to defend themselves and protect their rights and for people to have jobs, a sound character and wealth. “Because Örgünöz identifies goals and endows people with a purpose, it tries to ensure that the nation attains its goals through competition,” he explains his movement.

The Dost Sect

The Dost Sect, established by retired Maj. İhsan Güven, has followers from all social groups, although their numbers are limited. The founder of the order, members of which also include pop singer Çelik Erişçi, have denied claims that it is a religious order. “I am Atatürkist; we have books written on Atatürk. What sort of religious order is this? Calling me a pro-religious order man is like insulting me,” Güven said before he and his wife, Sibel Güven, were murdered in their house in Tuzla in 2004. Ergün Poyraz and Associate Professor Habib Ümit Sayın, defendants in the Ergenekon trial, have testified as witnesses in the trial concerning their murder.

The ‘high-society’ community famous for Friday prayers