Human Rights Watch Director: This is a political purge… pure and simple!


Date posted: January 31, 2017

HizmetNews.Com

Reuters reports that Turkish authorities have dismissed more than 90,000 public servants for alleged connections to a coup attempt in July 2016. Labour Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said 125,485 people from the public service had been put through legal proceedings after the coup attempt, and that 94,867 of those had been dismissed so far.

Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch Director, has denounced the purge saying “No one pretends there were 90,000 coup plotters. This is a political purge, pure and simple. Erdogan’s Turkey”

 

As Reuters reports [Erdogan’s] Turkey has been rooting out followers of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. Erdogan accuses the Gulen’s Hizmet movement of having infiltrated state institutions and plotted to overthrow the government. Gulen has unequivocally denied the allegations and condemned the coup immediately before it was repelled.

 

 

 

 


Related News

Report reveals repercussions of AK Party fight against Gülen movement in Africa

A report released by the prestigious London-based think tank Chatham House has praised the efforts of the faith-based Gülen movement in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), saying that it has been a major driving force of Turkey’s engagement in the region; however, it has warned that the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) ongoing battle against the movement may hamper further Turkish presence there.

Mind-polluting leaks about Hizmet movement

The Taraf daily has performed extraordinarily in the fight against the bureaucratic oligarchy. Its contributions to the process of cleaning up the back alleys of the country cannot be ignored. However, it appears that it has started to make several errors due to its skyrocketing self-confidence. BÜLENT KORUCU March 8, 2012 Add to this overblown […]

Feud between Turkey’s Erdogan and influential cleric goes public

A feud between Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and an influential Islamic cleric has spilled into the open months ahead of elections, highlighting fractures in the religiously conservative support base underpinning his decade in power. The reclusive cleric drew parallels with the behavior of the secularist military in the build up to past coups.

What’s Friendship Got to Do With [Mr. Gulen’s] Extradition?

On a visit to Washington to lobby for Gülen’s extradition, Nationalist Action party parliamentarian Kamil Aydin expressed his belief that “America is going to refuse losing Turkey as a good partnership in the region.” But even if Turkish politicians do not believe that America operates according to the rule of law, they should at least be aware that most Americans are proud to think that it does.

Foreign Policy’s emotional and biased journalism on Turkey

Ihsan Yilmaz On Jan. 11, 2012, Foreign Policy magazine published a piece titled “Behind the Bars in the Deep State” by Justin Vela. The piece is neither objective nor accurate. It is one-sided and biased. It is also prejudicial against the Hizmet (Gülen) movement. It fails to give a balanced picture of Turkish politics and […]

Hizmet Movement is not interested in attaining political power in Turkey or elsewhere in the world

[Erdogan] has called Hizmet a state within a state, which to me is a strange characterization. To me, that’s like saying that the Catholics are a state within a state in America, or the Jews, a state within a state in America. Those kinds of statements are derogatory, they’re pejoratives. Catholics have a right to seek influence in America; Jews have a right to seek influence in America, that’s how we operate here.

Latest News

Sacramento leaders gather for Iftar dinner in celebration of Ramadan

SEO Skill Suite: Tools for Keyword Research, Technical & Backlink Analysis

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

In Case You Missed It

From political Islam to Islamic terrorism: Is there a way out?

Turks fleeing post-coup reprisals find shelter in Pittsburgh

Turkish PM: State of emergency will continue until Gülen movement completely wiped out

17,000 women, 515 babies in Turkish prisons: SCF report

Haylamaz: Real Islam should be sought by looking at the Prophet Muhammad’s life

GYV gathers politicians, diplomats at iftar dinner in Turkish capital

AK Party gov’t treats critical letters, columns as ‘treachery’

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News