Turkish PM Yıldırım names July 15 coup attempt as ‘project’ he did not like


Date posted: July 6, 2018

In remarks that fueled suspicions even further that the Turkish government was involved in a failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on Thursday that July 15 was a “project” he did not like or approve of.

Yıldırım’s remarks came during the Anadolu news agency’s “Editor’s Desk” program.

When one of the editors of the agency asked the prime minister, “Has there been any project that challenged you so much it made you say, ‘If only we had not gotten into this business’?”

“Which one [of them] should I tell you about? The project I did not like was July 15,” said Yıldırım, laughing, sparking a burst of laughter among the journalists who sat around the table with Yıldırım.

The prime minister’s remarks attracted widespread criticism on social media, with many saying that Yıldırım had confessed to the government’s involvement in the coup attempt, which claimed the lives of 249 people and injured a thousand others.

Immediately after the putsch the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

Amid an ongoing witch-hunt targeting the Gülen movement, more than 50,000 people have been jailed while more than 150,000 have been removed from state posts due to alleged Gülen links since the coup attempt.

Yıldırım is the last prime minister of the modern Turkish Republic as a new system of governance, an executive presidency, was adopted in a referendum last year. Yıldırım is expected to be the new speaker of parliament for the next legislative term.

 

Source: Turkish Minute , July 6, 2018

Tags: | | |


Related News

Abant Platform discusses thriving relations between Turkey and Africa

SEVGİ AKARÇEŞME, ABANT The unprecedented level of interaction between Turkey and Africa was the dominant theme of the 29th meeting of the Abant Platform on Friday, which convened with the theme of Africa in Abant, Bolu. Participants from Turkey and Africa in the fields of academia, politics and the media agreed that mutual understanding is […]

Compensation case filed against Erdoğan for targeting Gülen-inspired schools

Fetih Educational Operations (Fetih Eğitim İşletmeleri), which run schools affiliated with the faith-based Gülen movement, has filed a compensation case against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for targeting these schools since the eruption of a major corruption scandal in December 2013.

Rule of law(lessness) in Turkey?

It turned out that I was overly optimistic, for I did not want to believe that a prime minister who bravely fought the old, authoritarian establishment in the people’s name for years could have changed so much, adopting just the same behavior we were subjected to in the past. I had thought that those bitter experiences were only a distant memory. Unfortunately, I was wrong — terribly so.

Hakan Şükür’s resignation blamed on lack of intra-party democracy

Şükür, a former international football player, left Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling party in protest against the government’s plan to shut down exam preparatory schools, revealing the intra-party divisions below the surface. The resignation came after Şükür objected to the government proposal to close these schools, which help students prepare for university and high school admission exams.

Did Erdoğan say ‘shut up’ to Gen. Eruygur?

EMRE USLU Liberal daily Taraf has published yet another document showing that the government, back in 2004, signed an agreement with the generals to fight the Gülen movement. The document outlined that the government agreed to prevent Gülen sympathizers from getting jobs in state institutions. Some political observers argue that the document shows that in […]

Turkey’s recent view from the US

The way the AK Party has proposed new laws to increase government control over judges and prosecutors and how many investigations have slowed down have raised suspicions that the government might be trying to hide corruption. The censorship of Turkish media and the recent attempts to change laws about the Internet to easily increase censorship are raising concern.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Thunder’s Enes Kanter says his father has been arrested and faces torture in Turkey

AK Party promises more despotism if it wins big in local polls

Slain prosecutor’s daughter: My father was not with Gülen movement

Islamabad High Court: No plan to close Pak-Turk schools

Gülen files criminal complaint over illegal wiretapping

Gülen condemns Reyhanlı attack as ‘villainy’

Witch hunt spreads to courthouse

Copyright 2024 Hizmet News