Dutch police arrest Erdogan backer for threats after failed Turkish coup


Date posted: September 5, 2016

Dutch police on Monday detained a 42-year-old Dutchman of Turkish descent for alleged death threats and hate speech after the failed Turkish coup in July, which has ratcheted up tension among Turks in the Netherlands.

Turkey’s government has accused U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen and his supporters of orchestrating the July 15 attempt to overthrow Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Gulen denies this.

The arrested man is an Erdogan supporter and he is suspected of having threatened Gulen backers online and in person, a Dutch official said on condition of anonymity.

In a statement, Dutch police said they had investigated 150 complaints related to the aftermath of Turkey’s coup since mid-July, roughly half of them for threats and intimidation appearing on social media.

Investigations into the complaints resulted in the man’s arrest, the statement said. No details were provided about the suspect, but prosecutors said more arrests were likely.

Turkey’s post-coup fall-out has spilled over into Turkish immigrant neighborhoods in the Netherlands, with lists of purported Gulen supporters circulating on social media, exposing families and school children to death threats.

“We aim to de-escalate, but if necessary we will take action,” said Peter Slort, a regional police chief.

After a wave of immigration in the 1960s and 1970s, there are roughly 400-500,000 Dutch Turks. A small minority are known to be Gulen supporters.

(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: Reuters , September 5, 2016


Related News

Newly-released journo offers insider view at victims of Turkey Purge

Briefly detained for taking photos of the street next to the Istanbul’s Gayrettepe Police Station, the journalist Tuğba Tekerek has talked about her detention period, shedding lights on what people, jailed as part of the government’s ever-increasing crackdown on the Gülen Movement, get through behind bars.

Turkey coup: Conspiracy theorists claim power grab attempt was faked by Erdogan

Social media users have compared the coup attempt in which more than 160 people are thought to have died to the Reichstag fire – the 1933 arson attack on the German parliament building which Hitler used as an excuse to suspend civil liberties and order mass arrests of his opponents.

Written Evidence to UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Hizmet

The Alliance for Shared Values of the US & The Dialogue Platform of the UK have prepared a report on “UK’s relations with Turkey” that focuses on the Hizmet Movement. The report may be downloaded, disseminated for free and even printed. Representatives from these organizations were personally invited to submit written evidence by the Committee to explain Hizmet and provide Hizmet’s response to the AKP government’s allegations against Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement.

Soul searching inside the Gülen movement

The U.S. is also treading very carefully on the Gülen issue. The movement has been Turkey’s top lobbyist on Capitol Hill for a decade.

Hizmet movement has no political ambitions

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), whose honorary chairman is well-respected Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, released a statement on its website on Thursday explaining the stance of the Hizmet [service] movement (also know as Gulen movement) inspired by Gülen as a civilian one with no political ambitions. The association’s statement comes in response to […]

Erdoğan…a factionist PM?

Now that the prime minister is battling a corruption scandal for which he is blaming the Hizmet movement, his new victims are Fethullah Gülen’s followers, who he calls “traitors.”

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

AKP Twitter troll asks gov’t to kill all Gülen sympathizers in jail

Indonesia rejects intervention over schools’ alleged links with Gulen

‘I don’t have a home right now’: Turkish NBA player Enes Kanter talks activism, basketball

28th Abant Meeting “Diverse Perspectives on Turkey” to be held in February 2013

Kimse Yok Mu “InnovAction for Poverty” Research Paper Competition is Open for Master or PhD students or graduates!

Turkish journalist at daily Bugün is threatened

Turkey’s Ongoing Crackdown: nearly 13,000 police officers suspended for alleged links to the Gulen movement

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News