older generation in Isparta wanting one of them to go to Ankara to the Directorate of Religious Affairs as described above, in the event it was the young Mustafa Sungur who deputized for him, both on this occasion and many subsequent occasions.

In Istanbul and Ankara in particular, young and enterprising Risale-i Nur Students, many of whom were university students, devoted themselves to working for the Risale-i Nur and the cause of religion. In Ankara they were active among the deputies in the National Assembly, writing letters and circulars publicizing Bediuzzaman's views and the case of the Risale-i Nur, meeting with deputies, particularly one's known to be sympathetic towards to Islam, and pointing out and warning about various stratagems of the Republican People's Party (RPP) supporters who had infiltrated the Democrat Party.

One such case concerned the destruction of one hundred and seventy copies of the large collections, The Staff of Moses and Zülfikar, seized by the authorities in Isparta. This was despite their having been cleared by the Democrat Justice Minister and was evidently part of a plan of RPP supporters to arouse antagonism among the Risale-i Nur Students towards the Democrats, for whom they formed an important body of support. [^15]

[^15]:Nursi, Emirdağ Lahikası, ii, 29.

This fanatical partisanship, which Bediuzzaman had alluded to in the letter he wrote to the new President, and warned against on other occasions, was an additional element in the harassment and oppression which he and his students continued to receive from certain sections of officialdom. These officials were supporters of the RPP, and they continuously hatched plots by which to divide the forces working for religion and prevent them uniting. Thus, since the governing structure of the country was still largely in the hands of supporters of the RPP, the repression of Bediuzzaman and the Risale-i Nur Students continued throughout this ten years, as did the court cases. Besides the Afyon Court decision to confiscate copies of the Risale-i Nur, on other occasions copies were seized illegally. Often Bediuzzaman was harassed and threatened on account of his dress, even being sent before the court in Emirdağ in the summer of 1951 for refusing to wear a European-style hat. In early 1952, a case was brought against him and a young Risale-i Nur Student who had had A Guide for Youth published in Istanbul; it resulted in acquittals. And the following year a case was opened in Samsun on the Black Sea, which Bediuzzaman could not attend due to ill health, but Mustafa Sungur stood trial; it