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

Starting a witch hunt [against the Hizmet movement]

The discourse Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Chairman and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan relies on to intimidate his opponents has taken on a whole different dimension. The prime minister argues that his election victory in the March 30 local elections gives him the right to combat the Hizmet movement, which he refers to as the “parallel state” or “parallel structure.”

Crackdown in Turkey felt in Capital Region

Volunteers at the Turkish Cultural Center of Albany offered Turkish language and cooking classes, invited the public to Ramadan friendship dinners and sought to build a bridge between East and West by leading a dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims. They were research scientists, professors, graduate students, state employees and restaurant owners.

Izzettin Dogan: ‘Turkish Olympiads achieved what UN couldn’t

Cem Foundation President Prof. Izzettin Dogan said, in his statements, that the Turkish Olympiads project initiated by volunteer NGOs is of great significance for global peace. “It’s not an easy task to lead children of diverse colors and cultures towards a common goal. Even UN couldn’t achieve that” Dogan said. The Turkish Olympiad students in […]

America’s Public Radio International maps out Turkish gov’t persecution of Gülen movement

“Nate Schenkkan is with Freedom House and an expert on Turkey. He says Gülenists have been left jobless, with no chance of restarting their careers. “For the vast majority of the people in the Gülen movement, it’s quite clear. They had nothing to do with any of this, whether it’s the coup attempt or any other kind of violence,” he said.

Cleric Accused Of Plotting Turkish Coup Attempt: ‘I Have Stood Against All Coups’

“If they ask me what my final wish is,” Gulen added, “I would say the person who caused all this suffering and oppressed thousands of innocents, I want to spit in his face.” When asked if he was referring to Erdogan, he replied: “It can’t be anyone else. He is the oppressor.”

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

The signatory states and their courts need to decide where their loyalty lies: With the authoritarian Erdogan government or with the human rights and judicial guarantees solemnly enshrined in their respective constitutions?

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

ABA urges Obama to protest Turkey’s suppression of free speech

Vision-impaired journalist, under arrest for 7 months, denied access to Braille books in prison

Cartoonists put Refugees’ Plight on Canvas

Kimse Yok Mu helps 2 mln people across the world during Ramadan

Ten thoughts on the [Erdogan] way of trolling

Africa pledges further cooperation with Turkey based on mutual respect

Did Erdoğan say ‘shut up’ to Gen. Eruygur?

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News