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
There have been many moves of interference with an investigation where four ministers and their kids are being accused and concrete evidence and documents present a grave situation. In these first days of the investigation, the police chiefs and authorities were removed, new prosecutors were appointed, police authorities were reappointed all over Turkey, everybody covering the issue including the media is being strongly suppressed, innocent people are being insulted and accused of forming a gang. All of this is being done to cover up the corruption.
Statement on Journalists Arrests
The raids on Turkey’s top selling newspaper Zaman and prominent TV organization STV are profoundly disturbing to all of us who value democracy, tolerance and the role of a free press in safeguarding both. Journalists who report about the suppression of human rights are not enemies of the state; rather they are documenting the actions of those who undermine the safeguards of a democratic Turkey.
The mosque-cemevi project and the settlement process
ALİ ASLAN KILIÇ, ANKARA In Muş, where I was during the final days of August for the anniversary of the Battle of Manzigert, I had the chance to speak with citizens from both Manzigert and Ağrı about the terror problem and the solution process aimed at Turkish-Kurdish peace. Last Sunday, I was in the neighborhood […]
Human Rights Watch: People being tortured, abducted in post-coup Turkey
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Senior AK Party member admits profiling of citizens in government, private sector
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