Zaman quotes VP and Rafik Hariri Center Director Francis Ricciardone on the Hizmet movement:
Speaking at a forum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday organized by a think tank called the Transatlantic Academy, Ambassador Ricciardone, who left Turkey only a few months ago, said that ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government officials so far had not come up with tangible evidence against the Hizmet movement, and stressed that the US government does not see members of the movement as terrorists. “High officials would come to me and complain about [Islamic scholar Fethullah] Gülen. I would say, show me any evidence of crimes in your law or in ours. Are you suggesting any violence anywhere, any violent crime or another crime? Money laundering, people trafficking, visa problems, anything? They [the Turkish government] certainly never suggest [any crime]. Nobody from the Turkish state, in an official conversation with me, ever suggested there was violence there [the Hizmet movement],” he added.
“The US government does not regard the Hizmet movement as violent terrorists. Period,” Ricciardone underscored.