US-based Turkish NGOs launch aid campaign for Syrian refugees
Date posted: February 24, 2014
VIRGINIA
Various Turkish nongovernmental organizations affiliated with Hizmet Movement carried out a project to distribute aid material for the Syrian refugees living in Turkey.
The Mid-Atlantic Federation of Turkic American Associations (MAFTAA) and American Turkish Friendship Association (ATFA) decided to carry out the project during a visit in the refugee camps in eastern Turkey. The associations contacted with officials from Kimse Yok Mu to deliver around 18,000 blankets they collected in three weeks from the volunteers.
Executive director of Northern Virginia Regional Commission Mark Gibb told Cihan news agency that he is very amazed with the large amount of materials which was collected. Gibb also stated that he had chance to know Hizmet Movement, inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, through the aid campaigns.
The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey exceeded 600,000 and more than 400,000 of them are living outside the refugee camps set up mainly in Turkish border cities, the Turkish disaster management agency stated in October 2013.
AK Party founder: I don’t believe claims of parallel state
Yaşar Yakış, former foreign minister and a founding member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), criticized the party on Monday, saying he does not believe in the existence of a “parallel state,” a term used by the AK Party to describe followers of the faith-based Hizmet movement, which the government alleges to have formed an illegitimate structure within the state.
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If the Cemaat has done something illegal, such as bribing an official to acquire construction license for its schools or illegally coercing businessmen to financially contribute to its activities, is it possible for this country’s citizens to condemn it. If the Cemaat is involved in illegal activities, then it is up to the state or government to reveal them and bring the Cemaat to justice.
Does the Gülen movement securitize the Kurdish question?
Turkey’s highly polarized political climate is flooded with conspiracy theories on any given topic. Hence, facts are often lost amid speculations. Recently, a frequent target not only in Turkey but also the West has been the Gülen (Hizmet) movement. Ali Halit Aslan, Friday March 2, 2012 One of the most repeated speculations nowadays is that […]
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