Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu stated he had ordered the closure of Turkish schools in 160 countries, arguing that the officials of those schools had sent letters to the leaders of foreign countries in which they complained about the Turkish government. The closure of these schools is a serious step, but the reason for the closure is not based on real evidence.
Who wrote those letters? Who were those letters sent to? What was written in those letters? If those letters were written by Ahmet or Mehmet, is it right to punish Ayşe, Fatma, Hasan and Hüseyin? Do they [the government] have the right to punish all of Turkey and silence the national anthem being sung in 160 countries? Tell me, gentlemen, who gave you this right? Why hasn’t the prime minister, who said he was threatened over the closure of prep schools, made public the names of those who threatened him? What happened to [Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy] Mehmet Ali Şahin’s “imam of the Supreme Court of Appeals”? Have members of the parallel structure who placed bugging devices in the prime minister’s office been found?
Abduction and torture part of war on Gulenists: Report
An Ankara-based rights organization on Thursday released a report delving into the allegations of enforced disappearances and torture that took place in Turkey since the 2016 coup bid. The report reads in its conclusion that out of 28 cases of disappearance, 26 were connected to the persecution of alleged Gulenists, while suggesting at least 16 of them were detained in the capital city of Ankara.
Gülen: Alevi-Sunni brotherhood should not be marred by bridge controversy
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has put emphasis on Alevi-Sunni brotherhood in comments on an ongoing controversy over the naming of a new bridge to be built over the Bosporus after an Ottoman Sultan who Alevis say is responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of Alevis in the early 16th century. In a […]
Deputy says AK Party tainted by corruption as he resigns
Çetin criticized the emergence of a narrow clique within the party that has replaced the people who have worked diligently and honestly for the party since its establishment. “The AK Party has swiftly drifted away from its original identity and entered into the hegemony of a narrow oligarchic structure as a minister who resigned stated,” said Çetin, adding that the people are once again disappointed by a political party.
Islamist vs. Islamic
The followers of Gülen have opted to vote for and support various center parties freely. Moreover, their support has never amounted to partisanship. Rather, they have tended to back specific policies and the political parties that placed greater emphasis on democratization, demilitarization, transparency, accountability, fundamental rights and freedoms and economic stability.
Academic Freedom in Turkey Under Seige
It appears that Fethullah Gülen, a U.S.-based Islamic preacher from Turkey who promotes peace and tolerance, and the schools associated with his religious Hizmet movement can’t get a break. Now, Gülen’s schools are being targeted in his home country by the Turkish government’s ruling Justice and Development Party, known as the AKP, which should dispel any notion in the U.S. that the AKP is somehow in cahoots with the Gülen movement.
The Scale of Turkey’s Purge Is Nearly Unprecedented
Only rarely in modern history has a leader detained and fired as many perceived adversaries as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has since a failed coup attempt last month. Here is how Mr. Erdogan’s vast purge would look if Americans were targeted at a similar scale.
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