A speech given by Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) Chairman Rıza Nur Meral brought a breath of fresh air to all of us.
I can say that with his remarks, Meral has articulated the feelings and thoughts of a large segment of society. I now know that Meral, besides being a successful businessman, is a good speaker. When he said: “Politics is a platform where you serve the people. It is not the place to make money or build a fortune,” thousands of businessmen listening to his speech stood up and enthusiastically applauded. Meral’s remarks dropped like a bombshell. His observations are a clear indication that the government has been engaging in unfair competition with the business world. Remember that the government keeps telling critics to “establish a political party if you want to raise any objection” to government policies. Meral made a similar call: “If you [members of government] want to earn money, quit politics and enter the business world so that we can compete under equal conditions.”
There is not a single piece of concrete evidence indicating that prosecutors and police officers had acted in contravention of laws and regulations in the investigation into the corruption claims that implicated some former Cabinet members and their sons. However, these public officials who performed their lawful duties in full compliance with the principles of transparency, accountability and equality — which are fundamental characteristics of the regimes that uphold the rule of law — were recklessly accused by the prime minister and his cronies of being the “parallel state.
Kyrgyz president: Those calling Turkish teachers terrorists should see a doctor
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev has said those who view as terrorists teachers working at the Gülen-linked SAPAT educational institutions in the country need treatment and should see a doctor.
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.
Erdogan’s diplomats have become ‘Gulenist-busters’
A diplomat told me that there was no way he would do what Tayyip Erdogan was asking him to do. It was against everything he held dear: chasing one’s own citizens without any credible evidence. Soon, many diplomats who refused to turn into Gulenist-hunters were not promoted, demoted or, worse, expelled from the ministry.
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.
Does Erdogan want to be Putin or sultan?
Commentators and interviewers on the television stations that remain open now make statements such as “The time of the Turkish Republic is over. We are now starting or have already started the second Ottoman period and Erdogan is the first Sultan.”
Latest News
Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away
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
In Case You Missed It
Cartoonists put Refugees’ Plight on Canvas
Turkey: A climate of fear; losers in the aftermath of the coup attempt
Deputy PM denies profiling of citizens in gov’t, private sector
Turkish Police Wait To Detain Another Women Just Hours After Delivery
New York Times Editorial Board: Turkey’s Relentless Attack on the Press
Mongolia’s Elite Schools sponsor reading halls at pediatric hospital
86-year-old man in 11th month of his arrest on coup charges
