Return to Turkey or lose citizenship, gov’t tells Gülen followers


Date posted: October 28, 2016

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) will revoke the citizenship of followers of the faith-based Gülen movement who sought refuge abroad due to a government crackdown on alleged movement sympathizers if they do not return to Turkey within a certain period of time, the pro-government Sabah daily reported on Thursday.

In recent remarks President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: “They will flee and we will run after them no matter where they flee. Let them become citizens of the country they fled to. From now on, they will not be remembered as citizens of this country.”

The AKP government, which launched a war against the Gülen movement following the eruption of a corruption scandal in late 2013 in which senior government members were implicated, carried its ongoing crackdown on the movement and its sympathizers to a new level after a failed coup attempt on July 15 that killed 240 people and injured a thousand of others.

Although the movement strongly denies having any role in the corruption probe and the coup attempt, the government accuses it of having masterminded both despite the lack of any tangible evidence.

Thousands of people who are thought to be linked to the Gülen movement have been purged from state bodies since then while around 35,000 have been arrested so far due to alleged Gülen links. Meanwhile, thousands of people had to seek refuge in foreign countries fearing the government crackdown.

According to Sabah’s report, the government will set a deadline and ask the alleged Gülen followers abroad to return to Turkey by that deadline. If they do not return, their citizenship will be revoked.

The government will reportedly take this action under a government decree that has the force of law. A state of emergency declared in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt allows the government to issue such controversial decrees, which bypass the Parliament.

The government will later follow an established procedure and submit a proposal to Parliament concerning the revocation of the citizenship of Gülen followers. When it is approved by Parliament, the list of individuals whose citizenship has been revoked will be published in the Official Gazette, reported the Sabah daily.

Source: Turkish Minute , October 27, 2016

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Turkey’s Ankara Mayor Gökçek Hints ‘Genocide’ For Followers Of Gülen Movement

Melih Gökçek, the mayor of Turkey’s capital city Ankara, has hinted a kind of “genocide” for alleged members of faith-based Gülen movement in an interview. He said that “Completely annihilating Gülen movement in Turkey will take our 10 year. In order to finish them completely we need to transform whole generation.

Questions over corruption and paralysis of politics [in Turkey]

The corruption crisis, the related ongoing judicial process and PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s stance towards this process have led many people to have serious concerns over justice and the latest developments have made me pose the following questions. I think that we strongly need honestly speaking and honestly thinking politicians to answer these questions for the sake of liberal democracy and universal values such as rule of law.

Gülen issues message of condolences for slain prosecutor Kiraz

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has offered his deep condolences to family of Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz, who was killed after a deadly hostage crisis on Tuesday.

As Gulen movement contracts in Africa, worry over who will fill the vacuum

Abdallah Kheri, who in Kenya heads the Islamic Research and Education Trust, worries that shuttering Gulen schools and other institutions could leave a vacuum that the so-called Islamic State will seek to fill. “Closing down the institutions would definitely grant gains to the fundamentalists,” he said. In Kenya, the Rev. Wilybard Lagho, Mombasa Roman Catholic diocese vicar general, said he would lament the demise of Gulen schools.

Police detain another woman shortly after delivery, bringing total to 16

Ayşe Kaya, 30-year-old woman who gave birth to a baby in İstanbul early on Tuesday, was reportedly detained by police with her newborn baby later the same day. Turkish government has systematically been detaining women on coup charges either when they are pregnant or shortly after giving birth. This incident is the second in a week and 16th in the past 9 months.

Erdogan’s Private Youth Army

Initially, the youth branches will be formed in 1,500 mosques. But under the plan, 20,000 mosques will have youth branches by 2021, and finally 45,000 mosques will have them. Observers fear the youth branches may turn into Erdogan’s “mosque militia,” like the Nazi Party’s Hitler Youth organization in Germany.

Latest News

Sacramento leaders gather for Iftar dinner in celebration of Ramadan

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

In Case You Missed It

TUSKON summit highlights Turkish ‘FTA initiative’

A Turkish Recluse Bridges the Western and Muslim Worlds

‘Turkey has become dangerous for us’: Failed coup has some seeking asylum here

Judiciary acts in line with legally unfounded police report to describe Hizmet as terrorist

Cameroonian Governor Thanked Turkish Nation for the Turkish Schools

Hizmet unmasks ‘undemocratic’ Erdogan

PKK terrorism, piety and the Gülen movement

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News