words to the person (Mustafa Kemal) who was leader of the Government in Ankara; I criticized him to his face and he did not respond but remained silent; yet the natural, necessary, and confidential criticisms I made of him after his death while explaining the meaning of a Hadith which indicated his error, were held to be a crime. But what importance has the sake of someone who is dead and no longer has any connection with the Government besides the sake of the nation and government and the laws of justice, which are a manifestation of Divine sovereignty?

Moreover, freedom of conscience, which is one of the principles of the Government of the Republic that we have most relied on and defended ourselves with, has been made the basis of charges against us; as though we oppose the principle of freedom of conscience.

Another thing is attributed to me in the police report, which has never ever occurred to me, that since I criticize the evils and faults of modern civilization, I do not accept the use of the radio,7 aeroplanes, and the railway; I am accused of opposing modern progress.

God willing, the fair-minded, just Denizli public prosecutor and court will make analogies with the above examples and show how unjust are these proceedings, and attach no importance to the unfounded suspicions in those reports.

The most extraordinary of them is this, that the public prosecutor in another trial asked me: “You said in the confidential Fifth Ray that the army would save itself from the leadership of that fearsome person. Your intention was to incite the army to rebel against the Government.” I replied: “What I meant was that the commander would either die or would be transferred, and the army would be saved from his domination.” How can a treatise that is both extremely confidential, and copies of which have come into my possession only twice in eight years and then been lost, and expounds a universal meaning of a Hadith about the end of time, and was