President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had pillaged public land and state-owned assets with the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen's religious sect. Following the Gülen's network masterminded last year's coup attempt, the government began to give priority to other religious sects.
The construction plan of a sports area in Sancaktepe district of İstanbul has been transformed into "private education area" in order to allocate it to the İsmailağa religious sect.
According to the daily Cumhuriyet, following the ballot at the İstanbul County Council, the sports area was allocated to an association related to the İsmailağa sect. The association had already completed the construction of the area before the ballot at the city council.
The AKP government had given the priority to the Gülen religious sect for years, with which it illegally shared ruling power.
Gülen had been a close ally of the then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, helping him to redesign and install his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) in power in 2002.
Since the coup attempt by Gülenists, the AKP has shifted its support other religious cults. İsmailağa religious sect is one of the five currently existing main sects of the Turkish Naqshbandiya order, the others being İskenderpaşa, Süleymancı, Erenköy and Menzil. The Erenköy sect has recently organised a religious symposium on the Naqshbandiya with the support of the Radio and Television High Council (RTÜK). The advertisement prepared for the symposium were aired for free as a public service.
Religious sects are illegal to Turkish laws.
