Faces of Manisa prisoners rendered unrecognizable due to torture, lawyer says
Date posted: October 8, 2016
The faces of people held in a Manisa prison have become unrecognizable due to heavy torture, Seda Tanrıkulu, a lawyer representing some of the prisoners, told the Turkish media.
“When I met with prisoners, there were bruises on the face of D.K., made by the boots of officials,” Tanrıkulu said.
Stating that prison guards reportedly banged the heads of prisoners on the wall with their hands cuffed behind their backs, she added, “The face of O.K. was unrecognizable due scars made by nightsticks.”
“Political [prisoners] are being subjected to torture,” said a man under arrest, in an obvious cry for help, as he was being forced into a police car after a medical checkup in Manisa province, earlier this week.
Apart from those already under arrest, Turkey has detained 51,000 people and arrested 27,000 others over alleged links to the Gülen movement, which the government accuses of masterminding a July 15 coup attempt, over the past two-and-a-half-months.
Kimse Yok Mu (KYM) has recently initiated a project, “a card of hope,” in the city of Sakarya, Turkey. The project aims to stop beggary in the city. Volunteers of KYM would distribute “a card of hope” to every beggar in the city, which would contain information and directions on how to receive aid from local Kimse Yok Mu branch.
Gov’t effort to bring down bank would have international repercussions
Directing his criticism at the government, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy and parliamentary Justice Commission member Murat Başesgioğlu voiced out “If you attempt to bring down the bank, you will have negative repercussions in the international arena,” adding “No one will take you [government] serious in the international arena, if you attempt to bring down a bank.”
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.
Ankara’s soft-power dilemma
Turkey’s major assets in terms of successful diplomacy and soft-power policy included Turkish schools opened by the Hizmet movement all around the world; the International Turkish Language Olympiads organized by the same group; business associations within and outside the borders of Turkey; intercultural and interfaith dialogue societies; foreign language publications of Turkish society; Turkish hospitals in several countries; and Turkish international humanitarian aid organizations.
Turkey Continues Its Witch Hunt Against Gülen Followers
The arrests and detentions took place more than 6 weeks after the Turkish military staged a failed coup. But people who had absolutely nothing to do with the coup, who are simply accused of sympathizing with Fethullah Gülen, were also arrested. In what’s becoming a repetitive story, a host of journalists, lawyers, teachers and civil servants were among those arrested by the authorities.
Lawyers for Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen have said via Twitter that Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ should have provided proof to back up his statement that Gülen planned to return from the US to Turkey in a similar way to Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
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