Dialogue Platform’s Statement on Developments in Turkey
Fethullah Gülen (Photo: herkul.org)
Date posted: July 16, 2016
Dialogue Platform which is connected with Gulen’s mouvement Hizmet, in a Statement denied any involvment in Turkey’s coup.
The Statement says:
“Our Honorary President Fethullah Gulen has consistently advocated for democracy and insisted “there is no return from the democracy” at every stage of his life.
Hizmet participants have always denounced the military interventions and demonstrated the attitude for the peaceful coexistence, freedom and democracy. Thus, Dialogue Platform strongly condemns any attempt to throw an elected government by military coup.
We have always supported development of Turkey’s democracy and its membership to European Union despite of the increasing anti-democratic practices in recent years.
President Erdogan and his close circles’ blame on the Hizmet Movement is very irresponsible and concerning.
We hope that Turkey will overcome these difficult days and take this sad incident as an opportunity to strengthen its democracy.”
Once the purges started, however, the game changed. The EU should oppose the purges as a symptom of an authoritarian turn and attempt of centralization of power by the ruling elite. By definition, a coup d’état is an illegal overthrow of the governing machine in place so to trigger a regime change. The response to a golpe by the ruling government should then be used as an opportunity to consolidate the power of the legitimately elected administration and give evidence of national unity.
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Social media users have compared the coup attempt in which more than 160 people are thought to have died to the Reichstag fire – the 1933 arson attack on the German parliament building which Hitler used as an excuse to suspend civil liberties and order mass arrests of his opponents.
Erdogan’s bid to close Gulen schools in Africa opposed
Several African states have rejected Turkey’s request to close schools run by the Hizmet movement. Turkish President Erdogan accused Fethullah Gulen, who owns Hizmet, of involvement in the failed July 15 coup. When Turkish President Erdogan visited Uganda and Kenya in May, he sought to stamp out the influence of the Islamic cleric Gulen. He accused the preacher of using his connections to try to overthrow him, allegations which Gulen denied.
Turkish Gov’t media targets exiled journalists, their lives at risk
Following President Erdoğan’s statement that no country is safe for Gülen movement sympathizers, the pro-AKP media targeted exiled journalists in the US and Europe on Monday. Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization has been tasked with locating, arresting and even killing military officers who fled Turkey after allegedly taking part in a failed coup attempt in July, according a story in the Vatan daily on Aug. 30.
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Erdoğan put the blame on the “parallel state,” claiming that the whole thing was a plot against the government. Instead of explaining why manager of public bank Halkbank had $4.5 million placed in shoeboxes and why son of former minister of interior, had TL 1.5 million ($0.7 million) in safety boxes in his house when police arrived to take them under custody.
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Efforts in Canada by Turkish authorities and supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have made life miserable for Gulen followers here, many say. They have been made unwelcome in mosques and restaurants frequented by Turkish-Canadians, and they have been cursed and protested against by fellow citizens.
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