Diyanet President Ali Erbaş cited Zaman newspaper: 'Who is protecting him, and why?'

Following the revelation that Fethullah Gülen was cited in publications by the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), leading to many publications being removed from the archives, it has now emerged that Diyanet President Ali Erbaş also included details related to the movement in his doctoral thesis.

According to a report by Mustafa Bildircin from BirGün, it was determined that the bibliography of the thesis written by Erbaş in 1992 includes the name of a media organization associated with the movement, which was shut down following the July 15, 2016, coup attempt.

CITATION OF ZAMAN NEWSPAPER

Diyanet President Ali Erbaş wrote a thesis titled "Belief in Angels in Divine Religions" in 1992 for his doctoral studies at Marmara University. The thesis was supervised by Associate Professor Ömer Faruk Harman. The final seven pages of the 299-page doctoral thesis were reserved for the bibliography.

The bibliography, which includes Turkish and French publications, also contains a citation of Zaman Newspaper, which was shut down on the grounds that it was the publication organ of the movement. The bibliography reveals that Diyanet President Ali Erbaş utilized the March 25, 1990, issue of Zaman Newspaper while writing his doctoral thesis.

WHY IS HE BEING PROTECTED?

Diyanet sources questioned the incident, asking, "Why do the presidency and state institutions, which launch investigations in a rush over a single citation, not conduct any investigation regarding Ali Erbaş? Who is protecting him, and why?"

ON ÖKSÜZ'S JURY

While serving as a board member of the Intercultural Dialogue Platform, which belonged to the Gülen structure, Ali Erbaş also served as a jury member for the defense of Adil Öksüz's doctoral thesis.