‘We won’t stop the witch-hunt’ AKP parliamentary group deputy chair says


Date posted: September 12, 2016

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Çanakkale deputy and parliamentary group deputy chairman Bülent Turan has said the AKP government will not stop a witch-hunt in the state bureaucracy for the sake of 1 percent of people who were mistakenly purged among 70,000 after a failed coup attempt on July 15 of this year.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament on Saturday, Turan was responding to criticism from opposition parties accusing the AKP government of enforcing decrees during the ongoing state of emergency merely to silence dissident voices.

“We won’t stop hunting [dissidents] merely because of criticism that there is witch-hunt [against dissidents],” Turan said.

Turan also targeted main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for his call to the government to halt the witch-hunt in the state bureaucracy.

“Calling on the government to stop the witch-hunt is equivalent to supporting FETÖ. Should we not take action? Of course we will. We will remedy the situation if any mistake has been made. However, this [Kılıçdaroğlu’s] stance is going to give psychological help to FETÖ members.”

FETÖ is an abbreviation coined by the government to describe the alleged terrorist network of the Gülen movement, a civil society organization inspired by the views of US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who the AKP government accuses of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt.

Thousands of people have been purged from state bodies, over 41,000 detained and more than 22,000 arrested since the coup attempt. Arrestees include journalists, judges, prosecutors, police and military officers, academics, businessmen, governors and even a comedian.

Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement. Despite Gülen and the movement having denied the accusation, Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government launched a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

‘Appointing trustees is the government’s right’

Supporting a recent government announcement concerning the appointment of trustees to 28 municipalities run by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Turan said there is no difference between the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and FETÖ. “A municipality cannot serve a terrorist group. Appointing trustees is a right. I can understand [HDP Co-chairman Selahattin] Demirtaş’s reaction, but I don’t find the CHP’s reaction to the government decision [to appoint trustees] appropriate,” he said.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu stated in Ankara on Friday that 28 municipalities in the country’s eastern provinces that have links with the terrorist PKK would be terrorist-free municipalities within 15 days.

Source: Turkish Minute , September 10, 2016

Tags: | | |


Related News

Turkey’s first private Arabic station starts to broadcast

Hira TV will also feature Samanyolu TV, which has been broadcasting programs in Arabic for almost 20 years. Hira TV CEO Yusuf Acar said the new channel’s target audience is families, adding: “Through cultural and scientific TV programs, we will appeal to all Arab people, including both children and adults. In addition, we will broadcast lectures from Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish-Islamic scholar.”

Gülen movement’s silent majority

After all, it is not difficult to understand that the reasons pushing so many people so far from home have been a love of service and a love of their own country. During the course of my travels, I also had the chance to meet a few of the teachers dedicated to their service and to teaching in these schools. Most of them had sacrificed some of their own opportunities so that they could simply contribute to the schools at which they are working.

Brazilian senator impressed by Hizmet investments in education

Respected Brazilian senator and Professor Cristovam Buarque, well known for his dedication to education, told Sunday’s Zaman during a visit to İstanbul that he has been impressed by the investments of Turkish businessmen who are inspired by the Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, in education even without an expectation of profit.

Intellectual deviations

Mahçupyan’s analysis of the Hizmet movement’s perspective on the Kurdish issue is wrong. When the settlement process was launched, the Hizmet movement announced its full support for the solution, with Gülen saying, “Peace is in itself goodness, and peace brings happiness.” It advocated non-violent social actors competing with each other freely and under democratic conditions. It openly declared that the right to education in one’s mother tongue is one of the fundamental human rights.

Mysterious visitors to holdings

Reports of certain visitors paying “unexpected” visits to various Turkish holdings and company headquarters are currently being spread in economy circles. As these guests are connected or close in some way or other to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), their visits can hardly be perceived as routine. These influential people are not making their visits for a cup of coffee. They send a short and clear message to the chairman of the executive board or to the general director, asking them to make a statement criticizing the Hizmet movement.

Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen gives first TV interview in 16 years

Responding to widespread assumptions that he ordered his followers in senior positions in the police and judiciary to launch the investigations into alleged high-level government corruption, Gülen issued strong denials of such claims. He said the reactions of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which have included the sacking a number of police commissioners and the arrest of some of Erdoğan’s allies, were “anti-democratic.”

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Kimse Yok Mu continues its assistance to Cambodia

Virginia delegation teams up with Turkish NGO, delivers aid to Syrians

Is Nigeria now a part of Turkey?

“The Blessed” Day of the Pakistani Orphans

Turkish Deputy PM Ali Babacan visits Turkish, Japanese schools in Sendai

TUSKON denies mass resignations after corruption probe

Women gather for UN development agenda in İstanbul

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News