Hanefi Avcı demands removal of penalties from his book

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Former Eskişehir Chief of Police Hanefi Avcı applied to the Interior Ministry for the removal of the penalties of dismissal from the profession and the civil service, which were given because of the controversial book he wrote, saying his claims are also confirmed by the prime minister.

Avcı aplied for the removal of sentences of dismissal from the profession six times and dismissal from the civil service twice, which were given due to his book “Haliç’te Yaşayan Simonlar: Dün Devlet Bugün Cemaat” (Devoted Residents of the Haliç: Yesterday State, Today Religious Community).

Avcı said in his petition his claims about the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and his community being a threat to Turkey were also repeated by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently, following a graft probe in which the sons of two former ministers are under arrest.

“Taking into consideration the recent developments in which it is documented that there are illegal actions against the government, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself stated this is seems to be an operation against the government and it is an illegal structure attempting to conquer the state,” Avcı’s lawyer Fidel Okan said in his petition to the Interior Ministry.

The petition also stated Avcı has drawn attention to “organizational threats facing Turkey in 2010,” via his book. Avcı applied to the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s office in 2010 saying Gülen and his community have organized an illegal organization, but the prosecutor’s office decided an investigation is unnecessary, saying Avcı’s claims are not based on “concrete information and documents.”

Avcı has been sentenced to prison for 15 years and fined 10,000 Turkish Liras in the Revolutionary Headquarters case on July 19, 2013.

He was arrested on the charge of violating the secrecy of an investigation, following the publication of his book, which alleges that the religious scholar Fethullah Gülen’s community covertly took control of the state.

Avcı was imprisoned and fined on charges of helping members of the illegal Revolutionary Headquarters terrorist organization carry unlicensed automatic and semi-automatic guns, influencing judicial officials carrying out the investigation and the judicial process on terror organizations through his book, and breaching the confidentiality of the Revolutionary Headquarters probe in the same book.