A strong message for Erdogan


Date posted: August 20, 2016

Boston Globe Editorial

Erdogan can be an Islamist sultan or he can be the democratic leader of a trusted NATO ally. But he can’t be both, and the time has come to make him choose.

Relations between Turkey and the United States, long strained, have grown even worse in the wake of the failed military uprising in July, which the government in Ankara has all but accused Washington of abetting. On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to fly to Turkey on a fence-mending mission. The Veep is famous for his hearty affability, and if any American leader could defuse tensions with Turkey’s Islamist president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it would be Biden. But there are higher priorities than making nice to Turkey just now. One of them is to make it clear that the United States has no plans to extradite Fethullah Gulen, the former Erdogan ally whom Turkish officials accuse of masterminding the attempted coup.

Gulen, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, promotes a philosophy that comprises elements of moderate Islam and Sufi mysticism, free-market economics, and interfaith tolerance. That he has a wide following in Turkey (and elsewhere) is not in doubt. But Erdogan’s claims that Gulen orchestrated the July coup are unsupported by proof. The 75-year-old cleric is a legal permanent resident of the United States, shielded by American standards of due process. Biden must be crystal-clear on this point: Unless and until Turkey supplies convincing evidence of Gulen’s complicity in the July mutiny, he is not going to be handed over to Erdogan’s toughs.

Those toughs have been busy in recent weeks, rounding up supposed “Gulenists” by the scores of thousands. Erdogan’s vengeful crackdown has been ruthless, purging not only military officers from their positions, but also judges, teachers, civil servants, journalists, prosecutors. Regime loyalists have been vigorously maligning the United States. Anti-American protesters have demonstrated at the Incirlik air base in Turkey, accusing US soldiers based there of being among the plotters. One pro-Erdogan newspaper went so far as to claim that US Army General John Campbell, the respected former commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, conspired with the CIA in trying to overthrow the Turkish government.

As a member of NATO, Turkey is still, formally, a US ally. But as Erdogan grows ever more authoritarian, his behavior and rhetoric are becoming intolerable — and Turkey’s reliability as a partner is diminishing. The message Biden must convey is that America seeks to cooperate with Ankara, but that by its actions the Turkish regime is poisoning the US-Turkish relationship. Erdogan can be an Islamist sultan or he can be the democratic leader of a trusted NATO ally. But he can’t be both, and the time has come to make him choose.

 

Source: Boston Globe , August 20, 2016


Related News

Former football star, İstanbul deputy says he is subject to hate crime

AK Party government used the Hizmet movement, its human resources, intellectual muscle and power in the international arena and at home until it became stronger [than the movement].

Hate crimes get worse in Turkey

Despite the fact that Turkey has recently adopted legislation against hate crimes, Turkey’s divisive Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has not stopped his attacks with verbal expressions of intolerance and hatred directed at the judiciary, opposition parties, the media, business groups and members of the Hizmet movement, a faith-based civic movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Pro-government paper claims with photoshopped image that Gülen has Vatican passport

In one more of a series of fabricated reports, the pro-government Takvim newspaper ran a lead story on Saturday claiming that Muslim scholar Fethullah Gülen holds a passport from the Vatican since he receives instructions from the Catholic Church. It was discovered that an image of a Vatican passport found on Google was photoshopped by Takvim daily.

8 detained in police raids on İzmir schools as Erdoğan’s witch hunt continues

Eight people were detained on charges of forging documents in police raids on 30 private schools established by volunteers from the faith-based Gülen movement early on Tuesday in İzmir, as part of a Justice and Development Party (AAK Party government-orchestrated operation targeting the movement.

Threat to destroy the Hizmet Movement a hate crime

Erdoğan’s harsh attacks on the Hizmet movement, consisting of followers and sympathizers of Fethullah Gülen, reached a summit when he stated on Tuesday, “from A to Z everyone in this organization needs to pay the price. Either they will accept the presence of this state or they will disappear.”

Think over extradition request [for Gulen] with care

In a rare public appearance recently, Gülen stated he had nothing to do with the attempt. Nor has Erdogan provided any obvious evidence that Gülen or his movement were plotting anything. Gülen lives quietly in Ross Township. It will take much detailed research to determine whether to grant Erdogan’s request that Gülen be extradited. U.S. officials should base such a move on only the most compelling evidence. Otherwise, they may be sending a lamb into a lion’s den.

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

22 businessmen sue PM Erdoğan over Hashishin remarks against Hizmet

Erdogan’s long arm abroad: no way to get passports, facing deportation to Turkey, no help!

The gravest-ever smear

Turkish Teachers In Kazakhstan Fear Going Home

Hizmet and the interfaith movement

3 journalists detained after interview with jailed Gülen-linked businessman

Gulen Institute awards student essay winners in Washington

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News