Unidentified individuals have graffitied offensive remarks on a wall of the Turkish Cultural Center (TCC) in the city of West Haven, Connecticut.
The graffiti echoes Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s hate speech against the Hizmet movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, with which the cultural center is affiliated.
The TCC has been serving the Turkish-American community in Connecticut for seven years. Mehmet Elmacı, the coordinator of the organization, told Turkish media outlets that the incident was unprecedented. “We are a cultural center that does not take part in politics. Our goal has been to share Turkey’s cultural heritage with our community. We condemn those individuals who are inspired by Erdoğan’s hate speech toward the Hizmet movement to write offensive remarks on our walls,” he said.
The probe, which many predicted to be the end of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), has become a war of perception. If you google “graft,” “bribery” or “corruption” in Turkish, you will see the focus has already shifted to a concept so far unheard of in Turkish politics (the “parallel state”), reassigning public prosecutors and police officers to different posts, condemning all sorts of “disinformation” and changing laws governing the structure of the judiciary.
Conference highlights Turkish schools’ contribution to world peace
ESRA KOŞAR, NEW YORK Education ministers and academics from various countries highlighted the contributions to world peace made by Turkish schools inspired by internationally respected Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen during a conference held in New York on Monday. The gathering, featuring attendees from across the world, was titled “The Peacebuilding Through Education International Conference” and […]
Turkey has not achieved enough democratization for Fethullah Gülen’s return
Kenan Taş Mustafa Yesil: “The possible tension between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Gülen movement is what the pro-guardianship figures desire most. Moreover, it should be recalled how satisfied they were during the constitutional and presidential election crises in 2007 and the AK Party closure case in 2008. Turkey is passing […]
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The Hizmet movement “revives civil society in a modern state,” he says, as he emphasizes that the movement also adheres to the values of the Muslim world. “Having Hizmet is very important for the Turkish state. It will help the state to renew its values,” the Tunisian politician comments.
Gülen’s lawyer rejects ‘letter of alliance’ to PKK
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, whose ideas inspired the faith based Hizmet movement, denied claims made by the Sabah daily claiming that Gülen sent a letter of alliance to the PKK
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The report is only one example of a growing campaign of slander against Gülen. The scholar, who has inspired a worldwide religious network that defends peaceful coexistence through dialogue and education, is currently being targeted in a large-scale smear campaign, which is sponsored by the Turkish government.
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