Turks caught up in Gulenists crackdown seek justice

Engin Ozkoc, an MP with the opposition Republican People's party, meets constituents who have lost their jobs in the purge
Engin Ozkoc, an MP with the opposition Republican People's party, meets constituents who have lost their jobs in the purge


Date posted: October 12, 2016

Laura Pitel

When she returned to her old school to pick up some papers after being suspended, the religious affairs teacher from the Turkish town of Adapazari was braced for some awkward glances. But she was not prepared to be treated as an outcast by colleagues of eight years’ standing. “They wouldn’t even look at me,” says the mother-of-three, dabbing her cheek with a tissue. “It was as if I was a terrorist.”

The teacher, who asked not to be named, insists she had nothing to do with the coup attempt that rocked Turkey three months ago. But a few weeks after her suspension — without any hearing or trial — she was formally dismissed by a public decree that accused her and thousands of others of colluding with the plotters.

More than 100,000 people have been arrested, suspended or sacked since the failed putsch using emergency powers that were last week extended for a further three months. The impact has shuddered through communities such as Adapazari, the largest town in Turkey’s western Sakarya province, creating new divisions in a society already marred by polarisation and mistrust.

For the teacher, who has resorted to taking antidepressants, the episode has left her confused, angry and isolated. “I feel so alone,” she says.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, blames Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Islamic cleric, for masterminding the plot that resulted in the death of 270 people — a claim he denies. Following the coup he launched a crackdown to cleanse Turkey’s state machinery and public institutions of Gulenist supporters.

But after a brief period of post-putsch unity, a growing number of opposition figures are now warning that the purge is going too farand is wreaking havoc on Turkish society. A commission set up by the secularist Republican People’s party (CHP) has been contacted by 35,000 people who claim that they have been wrongfully tainted.

 

Click below link to read the full article.

Source: Financial Times , October 12, 2016


Related News

Closing down prep schools and calling it ‘transformation’

BÜŞRA ERDAL, İSTANBUL Describing the government’s plan to close down the prep schools as a “transformation” is nothing more than saying, “I’m not going to say ‘close down prep schools,’ but I’m going to close them down.” The draft law in question will affect millions of students and their parents, but the debate on prep […]

UNESCO Global Monitoring Report and Turkish Schools

The Turkish schools around the world offers practical perspectives and practices in redefining “the human” and his needs, reintegrating him into society, overcoming the physical and methodological obstacles to education and leading a robust performance in the path to global peace. Although the report correlates the education crisis at first glance with poverty and social background, education remains as the number-one problem, in a varying extent, in the developed countries as well. What needs to be done is to convey how the Turkish schools are tackling or minimizing many educational problems and, finally, to find out what aspects of the schools’ methods can apply to public schools.

Opposition deputy seeks answers on gov’t ban on Kimse Yok Mu

A lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has directed questions at Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on why the government banned charity group Kimse Yok Mu from collecting donations. In a formal parliamentary question, CHP Deputy Chairman Sezgin Tanrıkulu asked Davutoğlu to explain the legal grounds for the government decision dated Sept. 22 to rescind Kimse Yok Mu’s permission to collect charitable donations

Turkish Olympiads Cultural Festival attended by 3 million visitors in İzmir

Nearly 3 million people attended the Cultural Festival of the 11th International Turkish Olympiads, an event celebrating the Turkish language that will bring together 2,000 students from 140 countries this year. The event, which began on Friday, was held by the Turkish Education Association (TÜRKÇEDER) and attracted considerable interest from both visitors from İzmir and […]

Extradition of Turkish Citizens: Moldova to pay 125,000 euros in damages for rights violations

Almost one year has passed since seven Turkish citizens working at a high school were extradited from the Republic of Moldova. Since then, their case was brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Moldova was forced to pay 125,000 euros in damages for rights violations.

Post-coup purge in Turkey leaves children parentless after mother and father are put behind bars

Turkey’s post-coup purge is continuing to hit children, leaving them parentless in myriad cases, shattering their families, disrupting their education and upending their emotional life.

Latest News

Erdogan’s Failed Crusade: The World Rejects His War on Hizmet

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?

In Case You Missed It

Becoming a Dialogue Movement: What Can Dialogue Learn from Other Movements?

EU, US Have Little Leverage as Turkish Democracy Backslides

Prof. John L. Esposito’s keynote at the Gulen Movement conference, Chicago

Turkey’s Coup Provides Reichstag Fire Moment for Authoritarian Erdogan

60-year-old Turkish villager detained after questioning gov’t coup narrative

Germany’s dialogue awards find their recipients

Turkey introduces new decree law to seize all Gulen-related companies

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News