Ergün Poyraz (born 31 January 1963[1]) is a prolific Turkish author known for his controversial books about the ruling
Justice and Development Party, the Islamic preacher
Fethullah Gülen,[2] and people associated with them. He is best known for his 2007 book
The Children of Moses (
Turkish: Musa'nın Çocukları), which accused Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his wife of being secret Jews and of cooperating with Israeli intelligence to undermine Turkish
secularism.[3] He was arrested in 2007 and was a defendant in the
Ergenekon trials; on 5 August 2013, he was sentenced to 29 years in prison.
He was described as an extremely secular Turkish ultranationalist.[4][5]
According to Milliyet, Poyraz contributed to the 1998 closure of the
Welfare Party (RP) "by presenting to the Constitutional Court [secret] footage of RP leader
Necmettin Erbakan's speeches."[6]
Poyraz's 2007 book
The Children of Moses accused Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his wife of being secret Jews and cooperating with Israeli intelligence to undermine Turkish secularism.[7][8] His another book The Rose of Moses contains similar allegations about President
Abdullah Gül.[9] It was the second best-selling book in Turkey in 2007.[10] He later released a book titled From the Army of the Caliphate to the Arab Kurdish Party, with "Arab Kurdish Party" referring to the
AKP.[11] At the time of his 2007 arrest Poyraz appears to have been working on a book about
Deniz Baykal.[12]
In 2013, Poyraz lost a libel case brought on behalf of the preacher
Fethullah Gülen, the leader of the controversial Islamic
Gülen movement,[13] over his book Amerika'daki İmam ("The Imam in America").[14]
According to media reports, the
Turkish Gendarmerie bought thousands of copies of Poyraz' books.[18]
In August 2013, he was sentenced to 29 years and 4 months in prison.[19][20][21] He was released on March 11, 2014 after his sentence time was reduced.[22]
In April 2022 he was severely beaten in front of his house in Kuşadası district of
Aydın and hospitalised. [23]
Some of his books
Fethullah’ın Gerçek Yüzü / Said-i Nursi’den Demirel ve Ecevit’e ("The Real Face of Fethullah: From Said-i Nursi to Demirel and Ecevit"), Otopsi, İstanbul, 2000.
Misyonerler Arasında Altı Ay ("Six Months Among Missionaries"), 2004
Kanla Abdest Alanlar ("Those Who Perform their Ablutions with Blood"), Togan Yayıncılık, İstanbul, 2007.
Musa'nın Çocukları: Tayyip ve Emine ("Children of Moses: Tayyip and Emine"), Togan Yayıncılık, 2007
Musa'nın Gül'ü ("The Rose of Moses"), Togan Yayıncılık, 2007
Patlak Ampul ("Broken Lamp"), Togan Yayıncılık, İstanbul, 2007.
Amerika'daki İmam ("The Imam in America"), 2009, about
Fethullah Gülen