Commentary: Abuses rampant in wake of Turkish coup

The Rev. Chris Heavner, campus pastor for the Lutheran Campus Ministry at Clemson.
The Rev. Chris Heavner, campus pastor for the Lutheran Campus Ministry at Clemson.


Date posted: August 5, 2016

CHRIS HEAVNER

There is much we don’t know about last week’s attempted coup in Turkey.  We don’t know who was behind the coup; we don’t know why it was so quickly discovered and put down; we don’t know whether the will of the people was defended or if their hopes were crushed.

One of the reasons we don’t know as much as we would like to know is the treatment of journalists in Turkey.  Incarceration rates are much higher than should be tolerated in a free society.  Those who choose to ask probing questions (particularly if they are Turkish) are arrested, jailed, and rendered unemployable.  The Greenville News reported the shutdown of “scores of media outlets, including three new agencies, 16 television channels and 45 newspapers.”

What we do know is that President Tayyip Erogan has said the coup attempt may in the end be a gift from God.  Whether it is a gift from God, it has certainly become an opportunity for Erogan to purge from positions of responsibility those whom he perceives as his political enemies.

Those whom he is removing are affiliated with a Turkish cleric by the name of Fethullah Gulen.  Gulen’s ministry has created a movement in Turkey (and around the world) known as Hizmet (or the Service.)  I don’t know a lot about last week’s coup attempt in Turkey, but I do know many in the Hizmet movement.  And I am worried that Erogan might also punish them.

With Hizmet, our Lutheran Campus Ministry group has distributed meat to low income families on Eid al-Adha. Together, we have prepared “Noah’s Pudding” on Ashura and handed out portions to 500 persons on the Clemson campus as a sign of hospitality and generosity.  I have traveled to Turkey with high school students, awarded a free trip by Hizmet-affiliated groups, in recognition of the high school students’ written and artistic expressions of global unity and harmony.

We don’t know a lot.  But what we do know should cause us to ask our elected officials to look carefully at any request for extradition for Fethullah Gulen. We don’t know everything, but we know that the post-coup crackdown has included public appeals “to be protected from the evil things of educated people.” Nearly 60,000 have been detained. Some 1,600 university academic deans have been relieved of their positions.

Turkey is very important to our country’s interest in that region of the world. We can ill-afford to lose them as an ally in the fights against terror. Turkey is part of the NATO alliance. But, we cannot allow those interests to blind us to the abuse of civil liberties happening in Turkey.

Join me in asking President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, Sens. Lindsey Graham and  Tim Scott to tread lightly but to delve deeply before allowing extraditions and in reacting to further re-calls of those Turkish citizens in the US.

The Rev. Chris Heavner is campus pastor for the Lutheran Campus Ministry at Clemson.

Source: Greenville Online , August 5, 2016


Related News

Turkish gov’t pays cash rewards for arrest or death of Gülen supporters

Turkey’s Interior Ministry has paid more than 19 million Turkish lira to 249 people who provided information leading to the arrest or were instrumental in the death of supporters of the faith-based Gülen movement, a pro-government newspaper reported on Tuesday.

German view of Hizmet Movement (1)

I remember the late, right-minded orientalist Annemarie Schimmel’s words saying, “The most attacked and least understood religion in the West is Islam.” Today, we come across a similar statement in a recently published scholarly report too. I’m referring to the report titled, “Überdehnt sich die Bewegung von Fethullah Gülen?” by Stiftung für Wissenschaftund Politik (SWP), which put the Hizmet Movement under a scholarly microscope.

Fethullah Gülen is a Chance for Humanity: His Inclusive Perspective for Sustainable Global Triangulation

The basic values that mark the twenty-first century are modernism, pluralism, individualism, and religion. Some claim that modernity embraces individual and social life as a whole, and that it has created new forms of religious, cultural, and political pluralism. There is no doubt that the world today is in need of dialogue between cultures and civilizations more than at any other time; this is of the utmost urgency.

Why is the Gulen movement’s statement on press freedom significant?

BÜLENT KENEŞ As Turkey slows down its democratization and liberalization reforms, and occasionally backpedals on certain reforms, it runs into more serious problems. In particular, the slowdown in the democratization reforms Turkey is supposed to implement within the context of its European Union membership bid results in the deterioration of existing rights and freedoms. The […]

Answers to slanderous accusations about Hizmet movement

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) has responded to a series of controversial claims and slanderous accusations made about the Hizmet movement which the foundation said are designed to pit the government against the movement and create tension between the two. Releasing a statement on Tuesday, the foundation felt an obligation to respond to the allegations as a sign of respect for the public’s right to be informed.

Erdogan’s Hate Speech against the Gulen Movement

This video is the hate speech uttered by Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdogan agains the Gulen Movement. Video is compilation from Mr. Erdogan’s public speeches and election rallies.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Turkey’s counter-terrorism campaign [against Hizmet] discredited

Turkey’s top Muslim cleric visits Turkish school in Cameroon

Kofi Annan’s remarks about Gulen Movement

Woman dismissed from job because she had surgery at hospital targeted by gov’t

Turkish authorities withdraw license of station linked to PM Erdogan’s opponents

History will record this [AK Party’s attack on Hizmet] as well

Unlawful acts revealed in police raids on Gülen-inspired schools

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News