Turkish Islamist cult group Uşşaki’s leader, Fatih Nurullah (Eyüp Fatih Şağban), was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in Akyazi district of Sakarya.

After the 12-year-old spoke about her terrifying experience to her mother, the child’s family filed a complaint against the cult leader to the authorities.

Phone call records between Fatih Nurullah and the girl’s father were added by the officials to the file in which Nurullah partially confesses to his crime. In these voice recordings, he demands that the father keep quiet about the matter. Nurullah admitted kissing the girl, adding that: “There is no problem with her virginity”. He also threatened to kill himself if the father made the incident public.

The 57-year-old cult leader told the prosecutors: “I made a mistake but it is not a big deal. We did not go further. I am remorseful”. He was then arrested by court order and sent to Ferizli Prison in Sakarya on 3 September.

After the arrest became public, some news platforms reported that this was not the first time that Nurullah had faced accusations of child molestation.

Pictures of him standing alongside prominent municipality mayors, ministers and other important dignitaries from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) became public as they were uploaded, reported and discussed on social media. This has started a major debate in the country.

The AKP’s support for cults in Turkey has always been a subject of public debate and controversy in the country since most of the cults are ultra-conservative by nature and sexist regarding women’s rights, and Turkey is a secular country according to its constitution.

A broadcast ban in Turkey has been imposed by prosecutors on news reports concerning Fatih Nurullah’s arrest.