Turkey Continues Its Witch Hunt Against Gülen Followers
Photos of the individuals arrested and detained. Source: Turkish Minute.
Date posted: September 3, 2016
MICHAEL VAN DER GALIEN
The purges continue unabated in Turkey. On Friday, 218 individuals were arrested on charges of being members of a terrorist organization. Another 421 were detained.
These arrests and detentions took place more than 6 weeks after the Turkish military staged a failed coup. In the meantime, not only the military officers responsible for the coup have been arrested, but the same goes for many others: people who had absolutely nothing to do with the coup, but who are simply accused of sympathizing with Fethullah Gülen, the Islamic scholar Turkey says masterminded the coup.
In what’s becoming a repetitive story, a host of journalists, lawyers, teachers and civil servants were among those arrested by the authorities.
All in all, more than 41,000 people have been detained in recent weeks, and more than 22,000 individuals were arrested. According to the latest reports, a sum total of 130,000 people have lost their jobs.
Fethullah Gülen issued the following statement on Turkey’s extradition request
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today once again demonstrated he will go to any length necessary to solidify his power and persecute his critics. It is ridiculous, irresponsible and false to suggest I had anything to do with the horrific failed coup. I urge the US government to reject any effort to abuse the extradition process to carry out political vendettas.
Minister Çelik supports Gülen’s call for Alevi-Sunni brotherhood
“I know Gülen is in a struggle for taking precautions beforehand, by telling the possible problems that may occur in the future,” Minister Çelik stated. He supported the call “Let the mosque and the cemevi be side by side,” by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Could assassination attempts be made against politicians?
Given the fact that Gülen is the foremost advocate of nonviolence and the only promoter of dialogue with different segments of society, including Jews and Christians, it was surprising for many political observers to see Gülen’s movement being labeled as hashashins.
Turkey in 2014: Not too bright [Witch-hunt against Gulen Movement expected]
As I have written before, if there are bureaucrats who misuse their authority to serve the interest of the Gülen Movement, or any other entity, the government certainly has the right to fire them and bring them to justice. However, what Dilipak describes is a much larger scale witch-hunt, which can only violate many civil liberties and raise the tension in society to new heights.
Gülen says many would like to be in detained journalists’ shoes
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has said he believes many people, including he himself, would like to be in the shoes of Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı and Samanyolu Broadcasting Group General Manager Hidayet Karaca, who were detained in a police operation on Sunday, implying that it is an honor for the journalists to be in custody under Turkey’s current circumstances.
Gülen calls on corrupt politicians to confess their sins, beg forgiveness
Turkish intellectual and Muslim scholar Fethullah Gülen called on senior officials in Turkey on Friday to repent for their sins and lies made to scapegoat others and avoid the blame for their own corruption.
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