Former vice rector admits profiling Gulenists at university

I have profiled Gulenist academics according to their departments since July 15, Aslan Bilici, former vice-rector of Turkey’s Dicle University said during his testimony in order to escape accusations that he is a member of what the government officials call Gulenist terror organisation.

Bilici was briefly detained along with 63 other academics as part of an investigation into Turkey’s July 15 coup attempt, last week. Seeking to tap into effective remorse law, Bilici denied charges and even admitted to have profiled people with alleged ties to Gulen Movement, according to Turkish media.

Turkish government has been accusing the Gulen Movement of masterminding the coup attempt while the movement has repeatedly repudiated the claims.

“I started to write down the names of FETÖ [an abbreviation that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan coined to describe sympathizers of Gulen Movement] members according to their departments and faculties. I wrote some part of the list on a paper and save the rest on a flash memory. …I asked my wife to submit the list to police,” Bilici said before being released pending trial.

President Erdoğan early this month called on people to report sympathizers of Gülen Movement to police: “You may have friends from within this community. I am asking you to uncover them. You need to report them to police and prosecutors. Why? This is our duty to the nation.”

A Turkish man was reported to be attacked in the head by an angry mob on Friday or a day after Turkey’s Consul General in Rotterdam called on people to “do their part” against Gülen Movement.

Some 82,000 state employees have been suspended or dismissed from work over suspected links to the movement, Turkish Prime Minister announced on Saturday.