Turkish PM calls for boycott of Gülen movement’s schools
Date posted: February 27, 2014
ISTANBUL
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has geared up his rhetoric against the movement of U.S. based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, calling for a boycott of the movement’s schools.
“Leave the prep schools and schools of [the movement]. Say: Public schools are enough for us,” Erdoğan said during a rally in the southern province of Burdur on Feb. 27.
“Public schools will be enough. If parents want additional lessons for their children on the weekends, we will do it. They will be free of charge,” he added.
Erdoğan accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating the massive graft probe targeting his government, but usually refers to the group through indirect terms such as “parallel state.”
The ongoing turmoil in the country increased this week, with the prime minister facing unprecedented accusations of corruption after the leak of incriminating phone conversations between himself and his son, in the wake of the initial police raids conducted on Dec. 17.
Erdoğan has called the tape a fabrication and accused the Gülen movement over it, while the opposition has urged him to resign.
In a blunt violation of Turkish laws and ethical norms, authorities removed nearly 100 police chiefs, who were either involved in the graft raids or pose a possible risk to the government. Two additional prosecutors were appointed to supervise the case, a move mostly interpreted by experts as an attempt to control the judicial process. The government has launched an unprecedented witch-hunt in public institutions and continues to purge any bureaucrat it believes could be cooperative with prosecutors in the graft investigation. Four ministers whose names were linked to these investigations refused to step down despite calls from the opposition.
İpek Holding chairman denies reports about alleged mansion for Gülen
İpek said the dailies had reported baseless news using imaginary scenarios as though they were facts. İpek said the mansion had recently been renovated as his mother will move in
Police and inspectors raid Gülen-inspired kindergarten in Manisa
Police and inspectors from several government departments have carried out further raids on Gülen-inspired schools, including a kindergarten in Manisa, as part of a government-led operation targeting the faith-based Gülen movement, popularly known as the Hizmet movement, influenced by the teachings of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Police raid successful Gülen-inspired schools in western Turkey
Just after another Gülen-inspired school was raided by the police in the southern province of Gaziantep on Monday, private schools established by the volunteers from the Hizmet Movement were raided in the western province of İzmir on Tuesday morning.
Gülen’s lawyer issues written warning to pro-gov’t media outlets
Nurullah Albayrak, the lawyer representing Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, on Thursday issued a written warning to pro-government media outlets on social media for their persistent use of the expressions “parallel structure” — a term invented by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to refer to followers of the Hizmet movement — and “Fethullah Gülen terrorist organization” — referred to in the dailies as FETÖ — on the grounds that they are making baseless claims regarding the faith-based movement.
Courts order corrections to gov’t media stories on Hizmet
Several courts have ruled against untruthful stories published or broadcast by media institutions close to the government about the Hizmet movement, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused of trying to undermine his government, but most newspapers and stations have not published the corrections as they should according to the rulings.
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