When asked about the issue of Erdoğan’s survival, [CHP Istanbul deputy] Erdoğdu said: “The upcoming presidential election [which is scheduled for Aug. 10] is not the main part of this struggle. He might be elected president and elude the graft investigation. What about his son Bilal and other family members? How can they escape an investigation? The main battle is between Erdoğan and the Hizmet movement. That is why Erdoğan talks about eliminating the movement. He considers the matter a fight for survival.”
When the graft allegations first surfaced on Dec. 17 of last year, the government and its media did everything to undermine the reputation of the Hizmet movement. Even AK Party deputies who resigned because of increasingly anti-democratic practices became targets. The government’s ambition to finish off the Hizmet movement is still continuing, and Erdoğan has pledged to eliminate the movement.
Excerpted from the interview published on Today’s Zaman, 26 July 2014, Saturday
Arınç says Gülen’s offer to hand over prep schools ‘sacrifice’
Turkish Deputy PM Bülent Arınç has described the offer of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen to hand over prep school management to the state an example of “sacrifice” and promised that the issue of prep schools will be resolved in a way that pleases everyone. “God knows that we don’t have an ambition to manage [these prep schools]; our desire is that these services don’t become the causalities of a disagreement,” Gülen reportedly said.
Don’t lose the plot
Turkey’s attempted coup shocked an already tense society. At least 240 people were killed, and the country narrowly averted a disastrous military takeover. The plot was led in part by followers of the Gulen movement, a secretive Muslim sect that runs a global network of schools, charities and businesses and has infiltrated the Turkish state. It is only natural that Turks should be determined to identify and punish the conspirators.
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A civil servant: “Tens of thousands of people, educated people, academics, journalists, lawyers, and many others, are scattered around the world for different reasons and are trying to find a safe place where they can be sheltered and continue their lives with their families. The Ugur Toksoy case was the point when Kosovo’s level of safety, or its breaking point, was put to test.”
‘Parallel’ lies won’t patch giant tear, Gülen tells government
Turkish Islamic Scholar Fethullah Gülen has decried recent claims by the government and the president that his followers are behind recent violent street protests in Turkey, indicating that the government is attempting to patch up a “giant tear” it has made with these claims in an effort he said is bound to fail.
No return from democracy, Zaman editor Dumanlı says under detention
Ekrem Dumanlı, the editor-in-chief of Turkey’s most circulated paper, the Zaman daily, emphasized his strong belief in democracy on the third day of his detention in an unprecedented government-backed police crackdown.
Monday Talk with Michael Rubin on Trump, Iran and Turkey
There is a rule-of-law in the United States and a process which the president simply does not have the power to short-circuit. If Gulen is turned over, however, I suspect relations will get worse because the extradition will convince Erdogan that blackmail and bluster work.
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