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

Tags: | | |


Related News

As Turkey Gears Up to Vote, Its ‘Traitors’ Speak Out

In Turkey, a national trauma has turned into a never-ending nightmare for hundreds of thousands of citizens. Erdogan aimed to root out all Gulen sympathizers and turn them into what one local columnist called “socially dead people.” The government’s crackdown has extended well beyond the Gulenists. Leftist activists, Kurdish politicians, and dissenting academics have all been targeted.

An opposition out of Gulen Community?

Noting that it’s an interesting analogy, I told Gulen community is not a political movement and its participants refer to their movement as “hizmet.” As our conversation moved on, I got the feeling that the correspondent regarded Gulen community as the most influential organized opposition movement against the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party).

Turkey coup: Conspiracy theorists claim power grab attempt was faked by Erdogan

Social media users have compared the coup attempt in which more than 160 people are thought to have died to the Reichstag fire – the 1933 arson attack on the German parliament building which Hitler used as an excuse to suspend civil liberties and order mass arrests of his opponents.

Turkey After the July Coup Attempt – Alan Makovsky’s testimony before Committee on Foreign Affairs

The vastness and persistence of the purge of the civil service, arrests of journalists, and closure of media outlets—many seemingly having nothing whatsoever to do with the exiled Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen or his Gülenist movement that the Turkish government blames for the coup attempt.

Investigation into journalist over MGK, MİT revelations blow to free press

A prompt investigation launched against journalist Mehmet Baransu for reporting on a confidential National Security Council document that mentioned a planned crackdown on faith-based groups in the country has been met with harsh criticism by Turkish and foreign journalist associations. “It is the responsibility of a journalist to report on issues that directly concern the people,” stated Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon, when speaking to the Cihan news agency.

AK Party criticizes Hakan Şükür’s sudden resignation

Turkish media claimed that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the leader of the AK Party, said, “He [Şükür] resigned on an order [from the Hizmet movement], this is not a decision he can make alone.” However, AK Party spokesman Hüseyin Çelik denied the prime minister had made those comments. “I have spoken to the prime minister, everybody should know that he has not made such a statement,” Çelik said.

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

Gülen movement acted ‘courageously’ when gov’t-involved graft revealed, Altan says

Lawyer: Gülen will appeal court decision to cancel his green passport

Students visiting Turkey bid one another a teary farewell

Bad news for Erdoğan’s lawyers in the US

Governor’s office rejects Kimse Yok Mu’s application for aid campaign

Threat to destroy the Hizmet Movement a hate crime

World is not Enough

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News