Erdoğan now targets foreign countries for granting asylum to critics


Date posted: January 9, 2017

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has blasted foreign countries who granted asylum to sympathizers of the Gülen movement after they fled Turkey fearing persecution amid post-coup witch hunt.

Thousands of people including academics, journalists, teachers and doctors have escaped Turkey after the Turkish government proved to be knowing no boundaries in its post-coup crackdown on critics.

“Terrorist FETÖ members seeks shelter in some countries. While Syrians and people from Rakhine are being denied right to asylum, FETÖ and PKK members are served this in silver plate. A member of FETÖ which is designated as a terrorist group in our country could be appointed as a rector at a university in the US. What kind of a thing is this?”

Şerif Ali Tekalan, former rector of Istanbul’s now-closed Fatih University was named as the new rector of the North American University in the US.

The government accuses the movement of masterminding a coup attempt on July 15 while the latter denies any involvement. In it is crackdown, the government detained 80,000 people and arrested 41,000 while more than 120,000 people have lost their jobs so far. Listing the movement as a terrorist organisation without a court verdict to this effect, the government calls it FETÖ [Fethullahist Terrorist Organization].

Source: Turkey Purge , January 9, 2017


Related News

UN to Turkey: Free and Compensate Gulen-linked Detainees

Turkey must release two men detained over suspected links to a cleric blamed for a 2016 coup attempt and pay them compensation for arbitrary detention, a UN body said on Wednesday.

UK court rejects ‘politically motivated’ Turkish extradition request of businessman

John Zani, district judge at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court, declined Turkey’s request, expressing “serious reservations about the current state of the rule of law in Turkey.”

Ekrem Dumanli: Turkey’s witch hunt against the media

Turkey’s leader for almost 12 years, Erdogan contributed to economic successes and democratic reforms during his first and second terms. However, emboldened by consecutive election victories and incompetent opposition parties, he is now leading Turkey toward one-man, one-party rule.

Reports of en masse wiretappings denied by prosecutors

Pro-government newspaper reports claiming thousands of people were wiretapped by prosecutors as part of an investigation into an unfamiliar terrorist group have been denied by both prosecutors who handled the investigation.

Who is Behind the Pennsylvania Protests?

Fethullah Gulen had suggested that the protestors should be listened to and not be treated harshly. This was an expression to show that the people’s voice and requests at Gezi should not be rejected.

Cagaptay: Turkey moves far beyond Europe

Recently, visiting Istanbul, I attended a conference on the Arab Spring organized by Abant Platform, a local NGO that gathers Turkish intellectuals of different stripes for policy debates. The conference – this time with attendees from Washington, Tel Aviv, London, St. Petersburg and Arab capitals in addition to Turks – debated Turkey’s leadership role in […]

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

Daniel Skubik on Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet Movement

Attacking the Journalists and Writers Foundation

Roundhouse Roundup: A Turkish Friendship Dinner

The fall of democracy and predicament of political Islam in Turkey

The next phase in Turkey’s political violence – third and coming coup could be the most violent

Crackdown in Turkey passes the point of no return

Conferences on Hizmet movement in Egypt attracted masses

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News