I Weep For Turkey

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey / Photo: AP
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey / Photo: AP


Date posted: August 20, 2016

CAMEL YIGIT

It has been the same topic of discourse everywhere. And it won’t stop anytime soon because of the atrocities that have followed, all in the name of sanitising the country and arresting masterminds of the phantom coup. The news coming out of Turkey has been really disturbing to many, and equally baffling to the world.

President Erdogan has obviously lost his sense of humanity. He has vowed to wipe out all participants of the Hizmet movement in Turkey and on the face of the earth. And he has started with the closure of schools, hospitals, universities, newspaper houses, charity organisations, orphanages and anything that is linked to the Hizmet movement regardless of the services these individuals and institutions are providing for the Turkish society.

What most people haven’t realised or refused to acknowledge is the fact that President Erdogan started to target the Hizmet movement after the corruption scandal in 2013. He closed newspaper houses associated with the movement, he arrested scores of people, but he had some limitations because of the compliance to the European Convention on Human Rights—an international treaty ratified by Turkey that protects human rights and fundamental freedoms.

And a plan was hatched. And the constitution was suspended via the declaration of a state of emergency and the witch-hunt has been massive. The figures are mind-boggling and the question is if the number of people that have been so far arrested and killed could be behind a coup, why did the coup fail? And I beg to ask some questions. How can a 75-year-old man plan a coup when he has been out of circulation for the last 17 years and living a recluse life in a small neighbourhood in the United States? What is the antecedent of Fethullah Gulen? And have there been instances where members of the Hizmet movement have ever been violent or taken to the streets to protest under whatever guise or form in its history? The answer to these questions should invoke some level of emotions in people because a greater genocide is happening in Turkey.

In his reaction to the allegations, Fethullah Gulen wrote a strong-worded letter and appealed to the international community to carry out an investigation and he would subject himself to whatever outcome that is reached. Please permit me to quote a section here: “I have been living a reclusive life in self-exile in a small town in the United States for the last 17 years. The assertion that I convinced the eighth largest army in the world – from 6,000 miles away – to act against its own government is not only baseless, it is false, and has not resonated throughout the world.”

“If there are any officers among the coup plotters who consider themselves as a sympathiser of Hizmet movement, in my opinion, those people committed treason against the unity of their country by taking part in an event where their own citizens lost their lives. They also violated the values that I have cherished throughout my life, and caused hundreds of thousands of innocent people to suffer under the government’s oppressive treatment.”

“Hizmet movement participants have not been involved in one single violent incident throughout its 50-year history. They haven’t even taken to the streets to confront Turkish security forces while they have been suffering under the government’s “witch hunt,” to use Mr. Erdoğan’s own words, for the last three years.”

“Despite being subjected to a smear campaign and suffering under a state oppression for the last three years in the hands of a politically controlled law enforcement and the judiciary, Hizmet movement participants have complied with the law, opposed injustices through legitimate means and only defended their rights within the legal framework”

I do weep for Turkey because how can you justify under whatever guise the shutting down of about 1061 schools and dormitories and well over 35 hospitals that included dialysis centres, just because they belong to participants of the Hizmet movement? Are the Hizmet movement participants no longer humans or Turks? As it stands, President Erdogan, in his wisdom, has succeeded in doing two things; taking Turkey back some donkey years and sowed the seed of polarisation and discrimination in the Turkish society because with the way things are, it’s no longer about Turkey but about consolidating power, not minding whose ox is gored.

Of course, there would be future implications, in my opinion, the stigmatisation, and demonisation won’t disappear anytime soon. It will live with us for a while and it won’t, in any way, advance the interest of our dear country, rather it would threaten the very foundation of social cohesion. And just like the popular saying ‘United we stand and Divided we Fall’. This saying is very relevant in Turkey as things stand. We need to be united more than ever. The dehumanisation and demonisation must be discontinued. The unnecessary clampdown and closure of schools and hospitals must stop. The licenses of teachers that were revoked should be restored, those being held in concentration camps must be released without conditions, and properties of Hizmet movement participants that were confiscated or destroyed should be repaired or replaced.

And on a final note, the Hizmet movement is not a terrorist organisation and would never be because Terrorism, according to various definitions is the “use or threatened use of violence (terror) in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim.” It is important to note that the movement does not have a central ruling body or memberships. Anyone who reads and listens to Fethullah Gulen’s self-development books and cassettes can simply choose to “subscribe” to the movement and invest themselves in various initiatives as long as they are in line with the ideals of Hizmet that emphasises the establishment of schools in order to create a highly educated generation, encouraging this idealist generation to improve themselves and become productive members of their respective social circles, promoting multiculturalism and coexistence by connecting with community leaders, and all open-minded people, and encouraging the Muslim world to embrace and practice democratic values, which will help strike down sectarian and political barriers.

Source: LEADERSHIP , Aug 19, 2016


Related News

The Middle Eastern voice of Europe — Natacha Atlas

İLHAN GÖKALP/TUĞBA ÜLGER, LONDON Many of her fans would say her songs touch their soul, with the rhythmic patterns of her smooth voice combining Arab and Western flavors in a harmonious bridge between East and West. Born to a father of Arabic-Jewish ancestry and a British mother, singer Natacha Atlas is among the most popular […]

It’s not about a conflict between the government and Hizmet movement

Insanity ripples through the country, the media and the people. If graft or corruption is the prevailing form of life spreading from the state to society, and if this form of life is supported by people, then we are hitting the bottom day by day. A prosecutor can say “We can detain 500 thousand people if necessary” and still hold his post as if he said quite an ordinary thing. Whereas in Europe mental health of such a prosecutor would be called into question and most probably examined.

Hate Speech and Beyond: Targeting the Gülen Movement in Turkey

If the element of hatred is detectable at first sight, the European Court of Human Rights defines such language as abuse of freedom of expression. In this regard, some of the language used by Prime Minister Erdoğan to describe the Gülen movement – i.e. “perverts”, “hashashins”, “traitors”, “spies”, “worse than Shiites”, “leeches” and “a terrorist organization” – do indeed constitute prima facie hate speech.

How Erdogan is covering up the corruption scandal

In a blunt violation of Turkish laws and ethical norms, authorities removed nearly 100 police chiefs, who were either involved in the graft raids or pose a possible risk to the government. Two additional prosecutors were appointed to supervise the case, a move mostly interpreted by experts as an attempt to control the judicial process. The government has launched an unprecedented witch-hunt in public institutions and continues to purge any bureaucrat it believes could be cooperative with prosecutors in the graft investigation. Four ministers whose names were linked to these investigations refused to step down despite calls from the opposition.

Muslim Leader Condemns Synagogue Killings

Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish Muslim preacher who lives in exile in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania and is sought by the Ankara for alleged involvement in the 2016 coup attempt there, condemned the massacre at the synagogue in Pennsylvania.

Turks in South Africa tell a different narrative about Erdogan

The Hizmet Movement, founded by exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, hosted a panel discussion by its South African branch last weekend. The purpose of the event was to clarify misconceptions about the movement and its involvement in the current political situation in Turkey.

Latest News

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

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

‘Selam’ – story of teachers in Turkish schools abroad to hit movie theaters in March

Thunder’s Enes Kanter says his father has been arrested and faces torture in Turkey

US high school students visit Turkey, give glowing reviews

Ankara-supplied clerics spy on Turkish-Australian communities

Students from West Africa gather at Turkish school in Senegal

Kids with Down syndrome suffer from major health problems in absence of jailed teacher father

History teacher gives birth to her third child in prison

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News