Several anonymous social media users who support Turkey’s ruling party AKP have started a smear campaign against the Gulen movement and its U.S. based-leader Fethullah Gulen.
It started after the police killing of George Floyd during an arrest, and mass protests against the police brutality emerged all around the country.
Some Twitter users shared fabricated photos of showing Gulen’s official account blames George Floyd and insult the protestors. They also added Gulen’s residence address in those tweets by pointing him as a target for the protesters.
A tweet called protestors to “kill Gulen for his stance against them.”
The official Twitter account of Fethullah Gulen published a statement denouncing the “fabricated photos” and said it reported those accounts spreading fake news to Twitter.
We are aware of fabricated images showing this account releasing untrue and false statements regarding the wrongful death of Mr. George Floyd. The posts have been reported to Twitter — please disregard. All official statements can be found on @FGulencomEN’s account.
— Fethullah Gülen (@FGulencomEN) June 1, 2020
“We are aware of fabricated images showing this account releasing untrue and false statements regarding the wrongful death of Mr. George Floyd. The posts have been reported to Twitter — please disregard,” the statement read.
Erdogan’s AKP has been targeting the Gulen movement as part of its mass crackdown on dissidents and opposing groups in Turkey. AKP-affiliated Turkish judiciary has targeted hundreds of thousands of people for their alleged connection with the movement.
Erdogan blames the movement for orchestrating the 2016 abortive coup, a self-pretense that Gulen and his movement denies any involvement.
