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.
The lethal and bitter aftermath of Turkey’s failed coup
The purge hurries Turkey on its way to what was already looking increasingly inevitable as its unfortunate destination: an illiberal executive presidency with a fading democratic lustre and Recep Tayyip Erdogan ruling more or less unchecked and unrivalled until he dies or steps down.
Pro-gov’t troll says sympathizers of Gülen movement should be ‘wiped out’
A pro-government Twitter troll who frequently uses offensive language to insult prominent political and social figures who do not embrace the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) ideals and practices has this time called on supporters of the ruling party to kill members of the Gülen movement.
I object to AK Party’s ‘New Turkey’ (2)
The problem is that there is a Turkey based on a single identity whose conservative/right-wing tone is more apparent rather than a pluralist vision.
Stuttgart police: ‘Boycotts of Gülen-friendly shops are potential hate crimes’
Police in Germany are investigating whether calls to boycott shops owned by supporters of the self-exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen constitute hate crimes. There are currently 15 open investigations. Police in the southern German city of Stuttgart said Wednesday they were investigating calls to avoid patronizing Gülen-friendly stores, shops and restaurants as potential hate crimes.
Amnesty International: Malaysia’s extradition puts three Turkish men at risk of torture
“By sending these three men suspected of links to Fethullah Gülen back to Turkey, the Malaysian authorities have put their liberty and well-being at risk. They have already suffered a harrowing ordeal, being arbitrarily detained and held incommunicado. Now, they have been extradited to Turkey, where they could face arbitrary detention, unfair trial and a real risk of torture.”
Government allegedly plots to blame Bingöl attacks on Hizmet movement
Twitter user @fuatavni has claimed the government has launched a plan to blame an attack in which two police officers were killed on Oct. 9 in Bingöl on the Hizmet movement, which is inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
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