Date posted: July 18, 2016
CNN’s Ivan Watson looks at Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish cleric living in the US who President Erdogan squarely blames for the deadly failed
Source: CNN , July 17, 2016
Tags: Defamation of Hizmet | Fethullah Gulen | Hizmet and politics | Military coups in Turkey |
Briefly detained for taking photos of the street next to the Istanbul’s Gayrettepe Police Station, the journalist Tuğba Tekerek has talked about her detention period, shedding lights on what people, jailed as part of the government’s ever-increasing crackdown on the Gülen Movement, get through behind bars.
Police carrying Kalashnikov rifles and inspectors from a number of government bodies raided 14 private and prep schools in Mardin province on Tuesday based on “reasonable suspicion” that the schools are involved in tax fraud, a move that comes as part of the government-orchestrated operation targeting the faith-based Gülen movement, popularly known as the Hizmet movement.
The Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) efforts to undermine the largest aid organization in Turkey, Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There?) reached a new level with alleged preparations to dissolve the board of the organization and appoint a trustee instead, although no legal grounds exist for such a move.
“What I have personally observed is that Hizmet is a movement that embraces contrasts and in which everyone can find a place for themselves. It’s a globally transformational movement. It is, on the other hand, able to combine tradition and modernity and bring them around the common values. Although I might not be necessarily exercising your values, I consider myself a part of this movement. The principles that lead the movement are what lead my life as well.” Alexander remarked.
As you may know, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have been able to postpone the Kurdish settlement process they started in 2009 until after the 2015 elections.
Erdogan has unlimited power for the next three months during the state of emergency and he is already thinking of instituting the death penalty (remember the Austro-Hungarian German dictator called Hitler). Here’s to hoping he self-implodes in the next three months, because it is doubtful he will relinquish his hold on power at the end.