Date posted: July 20, 2016
Prof. John Whyte’s comments on recent coup attemtp in Turkey.
Source: CTV Regina News
Tags: Defamation of Hizmet | Fethullah Gulen | Military coups in Turkey | Persecution of Hizmet by Erdogan |

Just ten years ago, Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc recalled a dramatic scene. One diplomat dropped his teacup upon hearing that he was posted to Mongolia with 5,000 USD, special residence, and a car — a lavish job at that time. “How can I live there?” the diplomat reportedly asked, according to Arinc.

Turkey’s first-ever complex housing both a mosque and a cemevi, an Alevi house of worship, has become the latest victim in the battle launched by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government against the Gülen movement after the Mamak Municipality refused to grant a certificate of occupancy to the complex on the grounds that it was built with “parallel funds.”

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the faith-based Hizmet movement, has offered condolences to former Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, whose elder brother, Yıldıray Arınç, was laid to rest on Tuesday.

It is deeply disappointing to see what has become of Turkey in the last few years. Not long ago, it was the envy of Muslim-majority countries: a viable candidate for the European Union on its path to becoming a functioning democracy that upholds universal human rights, gender equality, the rule of law and the rights of Kurdish and non-Muslim citizens.

In a meeting at his compound in Pennsylvania, Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen defends himself against claims made by Turkey’s president that he was behind this weekend’s failed coup. He alleges that power has poisoned Erdogan.

The relationship between AKP and Hizmet fell apart in late 2013 after allegations of corruption were made against the Erdogan government by an allegedly “parallel structure” within the state and supposed shadow fifth column controlled by the Gülen Movement.
