Terrorism and Criminal Organisation Accusations
The claim that his "roots are abroad" and that he is linked to foreign powers
Unfounded
Claim
Fact
The accusation is a single sentence and comes with no document: his roots are abroad. Alparslan Kuytul's answer likewise begins with a single sentence — his mother is known, his father is known, the people he meets are known — but it does not end there.
Kuytul calls the man who made the accusation into a mutual curse. He writes his own side of it first: if his roots are abroad, let the calamity fall on him. Then he asks the same of the other side — if there is no such thing, let it fall on him. And he asks, "I say amen; do you say amen too?"
Why this and not a document?
Because there is no document to refute. "Rooted abroad" is not a claim but a label: it does not say who made contact, when, with which body, or by what route. A thing left unsaid can no more be disproved than it can be proved. Only one question remains — is the man who said it willing to stand behind it far enough to risk losing?
An earlier example of this method sits on this site: on 31 January 2018 it was written that a connection to the United Arab Emirates and Egypt was "being investigated"; afterwards no document followed, nor did the claim enter any case file.
The other headings in the same dispute
The video is a compilation not of one accusation but of a series of accusations and their answers:
- "He holds a Salafism of his own." Answer: he is of the Ahl al-Sunnah and of the Hanafi school. In the same place Kuytul recalls that Salafists threatened him with death, and that the state's own security service had him sign papers several times over that threat and offered him protection.
- "They spat at the police and insulted them." Answer: with all those police cameras, not a single image can be shown. Kuytul puts the counter-claim: there is a police chief who beats people with a baton.
- "They held more than 50 demonstrations in 4 to 5 months." Answer: the number is the total for many cities; it means a few press statements in each city. And the number of press statements does not abolish the right itself.
- "He pushed children and women to the front." Answer: a man who hides behind women would never have taken on so long a struggle in the first place.
- "Nearly half the social media accounts are bots." Answer: the accounts are real; the side that knows about bots and mods is not his.
- "He is trying to cripple the authority and the will of the state." Answer: the matter is a press statement. If every march and every press statement is to count as a revolt against the authority of the state, then it must be asked why the constitution and the laws permit them.
Where the words end
Kuytul's closing sentence is not about the accusations but about the office that made them: he says that as long as Süleyman Soylu is Minister of the Interior, peace and freedom of thought and expression will not come to this country and people will not feel safe — and he adds that as long as this treatment continues, the governing party will go on losing votes.
The whole of the speech in the video is below.
The video in full
The text below is a transcript of the speech in the video and follows the order of the video. The video is a compilation: accusation and answer alternate. Only the obvious slips produced in transcription have been corrected; the sentences are otherwise left as they are.
Accusation: Alparslan Kuytul is a man whose roots are abroad.
I am a child of this homeland. My mother is known and my father is known. The people I meet are known too. And may God bring calamity upon whoever it is whose roots are abroad. If your roots are here, if they are not abroad, may God bring calamity upon you — do you accept? I accept. If my roots are abroad, may God bring calamity upon me. If there is no such thing, may God bring calamity upon you — yes? I say amen. Do you say amen too?
Accusation: What stands before us is truly a buffoon. Truly a buffoon.
What does buffoon mean? If you knew me you would be ashamed to have used that word. I will take that word of yours to court.
Accusation: They spit, they insult. They do all sorts of things.
There are all these police cameras. Show me one person who spat at a policeman, who struck one, who swore at one, who insulted one. That is exactly what drives you mad. We do no such thing. Your own chief beats people with a baton in his hand. He beats people with a baton. Whether he is a security branch chief or a riot policeman is not clear.
Accusation: In a period of 4 to 4.5 months he has held more than 50 of these demonstrations.
Well, I would hold 150 more — what is it to you? Is there a limit to this? Everyone has work of their own; it is not something done all the time. What you are talking about is the total for many cities. We have a great many friends in those cities. Each of them may have done it three or five times in their own city over five months. What is it to you? The total may have come to 50, it may be 150.
Accusation: He pushed children and women to the front.
Are we cowards who would hide behind women? If we were such men, would I be putting up this much of a fight against you?
Accusation: 45% of yesterday's social media were bot accounts. Hundreds of thousands of tweets were posted — from bot accounts?
We know nothing of bots and mods. Our accounts are real accounts. That is what your trolls do.
Accusation: You speak without knowing, within a Salafism of your own.
What Salafism? We are Ahl al-Sunnah. I am of the Hanafi school. And do not speak without knowing; speak on the subjects you know. The Salafists threatened me with death — ISIS. Your own security people came and had me sign papers four or five times: there is a death threat, do you want protection, they said — as far back as 2017.
Accusation: He is trying to put forward an understanding that would cripple the authority and the will of the state.
You keep going on about the authority of the state, this and that. You are trying to cover up your own offence. What has any of this to do with the authority of the state? It was a press statement. So is every march, every press statement, to be counted as a revolt against the authority of the state? Then why do the constitution and the laws permit them? You do not know what you are saying.
As long as Süleyman Soylu is Minister of the Interior in this country, peace will not come to this country. There will be no freedom of thought and expression in this country. People will not feel safe in this country. People will not be able to live in this country as beings with dignity. As long as he goes on having people treated this way as Minister of the Interior, the AK Party will go on losing votes.