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.
Woman says she miscarried baby due to stress under police custody
A Turkish woman, whose identity remains anonymous, has said in a recent video recording that she miscarried her baby due to the stress she experienced under custody.
3 dead, 5 missing in attempt to escape Turkey’s post-coup crackdown
At least three people died and five others were missing after a boat carrying a group of eight capsized on Tuesday in the Maritsa River while seeking to escape a post-coup crackdown in Turkey.
Abrupt gov’t decision to revoke status of Kimse Yok Mu draws criticism
Turkey’s leading charity, Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There), had its right to collect charitable donations abruptly rescinded on Tuesday, in what seems to be an arbitrary decision made during a Cabinet meeting, prompting harsh reactions from volunteers, lawmakers of the opposition parties and representatives of other civil society groups.
Pro-gov’t columnist: Turkish state must assassinate Fethullah Gülen
Fatih Tezcan, a pro-government columnist, said in a video that he is sure the Turkish state had embedded a secret agent in the Gülen movement and that now it is time for him to “terminate” Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. During his 1.08-minute video, Tezcan curses the Gülen movement and the US-based Gülen and says that the murder of Gülen is something desired by the entire Muslim world.
12 detained for raising funds to help families of jailed Gülen sympathizers
Twelve businessmen have been detained in Kayseri province for raising humanitarian relief for families of people jailed in an ongoing crackdown on the Gülen movement. According to the Milliyet daily, police detained the “suspects” at a meeting during which they were raising funds for victimized families.
[Cafe Capital] Excessive attempts to manipulate people’s perceptions to backfire
The tension caused by a Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) bill that is designed to restructure the HSYJ, the witch-hunts against police officers, teachers and other public employees who have been profiled as members of the Hizmet community (Gülen movement) and the victimization of tens of thousands of people have created unease among the general public. People started reacting negatively to the accusations and slander, which went far beyond the limits of criticism against the Hizmet community, and started saying: “This is too much!
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