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.

 

 

 

 

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Religion as a force for peace

ŞAHİN ALPAY One of the great advantages of Turkey, surely, is the dominance of religious scholars who have promoted conceptions of Islam promoting peace, socio-economic development and democracy. In this context, contributions of Said Nursi (1878-1960), a Kurd from Bitlis, and Fethullah Gülen, a Turk from Erzurum, are surely exceptional. In Turkey hopes for an […]

Corruption scandal will consolidate Turkish democracy

” When all the dust settles in the aftermath of corruption, money laundering and racketeering involving higher-ups in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), we will have the chance to lay the foundation for a democracy by consensus, which is the only way to rule a large country like Turkey with a relatively young population and rising middle class.”

Interview: U.S. Judge Says Turkey’s Judiciary ‘Taken Over’ By Erdogan

Even before the coup attempt in July, the judiciary was being essentially taken over by [then] PM Tayyip Erdogan. When the attempted coup occurred in July, within 24 hours there were arrest warrants for almost 3,000 judges. And it’s very clear, and in fact it’s been admitted by the deputy chair of the High Council [of Judges and Prosecutors, the body that selects and assigns judges], that that list of judges had existed for years.

Wife of arrested teacher: I was offered to lie about others in exchange for my husband’s release

The wife of one of the teachers detained in a government-led operation against people deemed to be affiliated with a civil society organization demonized by the ruling party was asked to provide false testimony against those in custody in exchange for having her husband released.

Detained Woman Covers 50 Km Twice A Day To Feed One-Year Old Baby In Turkey

Şule Akkaya, a primary school teacher who was detained on June 1, 2017 as part of an investigation into the Gülen group, reportedly covers 40 to 50 km twice a day to breastfeed her one-year-old baby in Zonguldak.

Asylum for Fethullah Gulen Movement Supporters?

Gulen movement supporters who have been persecuted or who fear persecution in their home country due to an association with the movement should qualify for a grant of asylum in the U.S. on the basis of both religion and political opinion. Even those who are not closely associated with the movement, but who fear persecution because the government falsely accuses them of involvement, should have strong cases for asylum.

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

Thousands in anti-corruption protests; Erdoğan defiant

Turkey’s permanent state of crisis

Approval rate of Turkish schools abroad at 78 percent

Introducing the Gulen Movement: Prophet’s Path in the Twenty-first Century

Arrested Turkish TV chief writes an open letter from his jail cell

A Year After Hurricane Sandy: Climate Change & Disaster Management

Kimse Yok Mu launches campaign for Eid al-Adha with amusing banner

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News