 delay in ruling on the case of Cafer Tekin İpek, who has been behind bars since 2016 on alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement.){kind=link}
European Parliament Turkey rapporteur Nacho Sanchez Amor has expressed concern over the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECtHR) delay in ruling on the case of Cafer Tekin İpek, who has been behind bars since 2016 on alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement.
The İpek family has faced legal challenges and government scrutiny since Turkey launched a crackdown on the Gülen movement almost a decade ago. Several members of the İpek family have been charged with crimes and their assets, including Koza İpek Holding, have been seized.
Tekin İpek has been behind bars since April 2016 and convicted of terror-related charges and financial crimes in 2021. Later in 2016 he filed an application at the ECtHR, claiming rights violations in his pretrial detention. His case is still pending at the court.
Amor announced in a series of tweets on Monday that 10 years after meeting with the owners and officials of the Koza İpek Group following its seizure by Turkish authorities in October 2015 — a meeting attended by mother Melek İpek and Cafer Tekin İpek’s son, Metin Ali İpek — he met with Metin Ali İpek again to discuss the family’s situation.
He described the pending application of Tekin İpek at the ECtHR as a “strange delay,” saying that even cases from 2021 had been resolved by the court.
“Hope every single official in the Court has acted properly whatever nationality and personal stance are,” Amor tweeted.
Oct 2015, as leader of the Intl Elect Observ Mission, I met the owners & officials of #KozaIpek Group, just seized by authorities. Melek Ipek and a then teenager @metinaliipek were present. Today Madame Ipek (79) is held in prison. After 10 years, I’ve met Metin Ali again ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/YhveuNzciC
— Nacho Sánchez Amor (@NachoSAmor) January 6, 2025
Tekin İpek’s son, Metin Ali, also posted on social media about his meeting with Amor and informing him about his father’s case pending at the ECtHR for nine years.
“Whilst I respect the ECHR, such a delay is unjustifiable,” he tweeted.
The Turkish government seized Koza İpek Holding and numerous personal assets in 2015. Tekin İpek’s brother, Akın, the holding company founder, was in the UK at the time and decided not to return to Turkey, opting to live in exile there. The Turkish government subsequently filed a formal extradition request for İpek that was rejected by a UK court.
Akın İpek’s mother, Melek İpek, and his brother Cafer Tekin were among 20 defendants convicted by a high criminal court in Ankara in January 2021 on terrorism-related charges due to their Gülen links.
Over the last decade Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and his movement, which in the past had been praised by the Turkish government for their activities in education and inter-religious and intercultural dialogue, have faced various accusations from the government, including masterminding corruption investigations in 2013 and a coup attempt in July 2016.
The Turkish government labeled Gülen, who died at the age of 83 in the US last October, and his movement as “terrorists” in May 2016.
Gülen and his followers have strongly denied any involvement in the coup or any terrorist activities but have been the subject of a harsh crackdown for a decade, which intensified in the aftermath of the abortive putsch.
Melek İpek, a well-known and respected woman even among ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) circles as a pioneer of charity activities before the government crackdown on the Gülen movement began, received a prison sentence of more than six years on conviction of charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” over alleged links to the Gülen movement, in addition to a four-year, two-month sentence for allegedly violating Capital Markets Board (SPK) regulations.
Melek İpek was detained in Ankara in November to begin serving her prison sentence.
Tekin İpek was sentenced to more than 79 years in prison and has been held behind bars, initially in pretrial detention, since April 2016.
Following the court’s decision, shares in Koza İpek Holding were transferred to the Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance, and a government-appointed board of trustees has managed the company since its seizure in 2015.
The İpek family’s ordeal is among numerous cases involving alleged Gülen-affiliated individuals who have faced legal action in Turkey. Several human rights organizations have raised concerns over the Turkish government’s treatment of prisoners, including elderly detainees and those with health complications.
Since the coup attempt, a total of 705,172 people have been investigated on terrorism or coup-related charges due to their alleged links to the movement. There are currently 13,251 people in prison who are in pretrial detention or convicted of terrorism in Gülen-linked trials.