Erdogan Uses Coup Like Hitler Used Reichstag Fire, Austrian Far-right Leader Says

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Mustafa Kirazlı)
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Mustafa Kirazlı)


Date posted: July 23, 2016

The Turkish president’s purges of state institutions following the putsch are reminiscent of how Hitler used the 1933 fires to amass greater power, Heinz-Christian Strache states.

Turkey’s failed coup and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s subsequent purges of state institutions are reminiscent of the Reichstag fire in Nazi Germany and its use by Hitler to amass greater power, the head of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party said.

The blaze in the German parliament building in 1933 was portrayed by the Nazis as a Communist plot against the government, and they used it to justify curtailing civil liberties, consolidating Adolf Hitler’s grip on Germany.

Austria’s Freedom Party (FPO) leader Heinz-Christian Strache said he saw parallels in Erdogan’s use of the July 15 coup by a faction within the Turkish armed forces to crack down on his opponents in the army, civil service, academia and the media.

“One almost had the impression that it was a guided putsch aimed in the end at making a presidential dictatorship by Erdogan possible,” Strache told the daily Die Presse in an interview published on Saturday.

“Dramatically, we have experienced such mechanisms elsewhere before, such as with the Reichstag fire, in the wake of which total power was seized,” Strache said.

“And now, too, one has the impression that a bit of steering occurred,” he added.

Erdogan has angrily rejected suggestions that he or the government might have been behind the coup, which he has blamed on the followers of a U.S.-based Muslim cleric. Erdogan narrowly avoided capture and possible death on the night of the putsch.

Turkey’s foreign minister called Austria the “capital of radical racism” on Friday after Chancellor Christian Kern suggested European Union leaders discuss ending Ankara’s EU accession talks, citing democratic and economic deficits.

Kern’s centrist coalition government is under pressure from Strache’s resurgent FPO, which is currently leading in opinion polls. Its candidate narrowly lost a presidential election in May but has another chance in a re-run set for October 2 following irregularities in the count.

Germany rejected Kern’s suggestion on Turkey, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe’s most powerful leader, and other EU politicians have expressed concern over the scale and speed of the mass purges in Turkey.

Erdogan and many Turks accuse the West of focusing more on the rights of the coup plotters and their suspected supporters than on the putsch itself, in which more than 230 people were killed as rogue soldiers bombed parliament and seized bridges with tanks and helicopters.

In a tweet on Saturday responding to Kern’s comments, a veteran lawmaker from Turkey’s ruling AK Party, Burhan Kuzu, wrote a Turkish abbreviation widely taken to mean “Fuck off foreigner”, adding: “The European Union is collapsing. NATO is nothing without Turkey.”

It was retweeted hundreds of times within a few hours.

The Turkish authorities blame Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen and his followers in Turkey for the coup attempt. Ankara has demanded the extradition of Gulen from the United States, where he has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999.

Gulen has denounced the coup attempt and denies any involvement.

 

Source: Haaretz , August 06, 2016


Related News

Fethullah Gulen: Killing of Russian envoy ‘heinous act’

U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen on Monday condemned the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey as a “heinous act of terror” and urged the Turkish government to identify anyone who aided the gunman.

Islamic scholar Gülen rejects involvement with graft probe and wiretappings

“If among those who conducted the graft investigations were some people who might be connected to the Hizmet movement, was I supposed to tell these people, ‘Turn a blind eye to the corruption charges?’ It appears to me that some people were expecting me to do this. Did they expect me to do this? How can I say something that would ruin my afterlife? How else can I act?” Fethullah Gülen said.

World’s oldest temple closed to visitors due to excavation team links with Gülen

Gobekli Tepe, the world’s oldest temple at more than 11,000 years, has been closed to visitors for 15 months due to alleged links of the excavation team leader and sub-contractor to the faith-based Gülen movement.

Erdoğan isolates himself in power

Erdoğan is picky about journalists escorting him on board his official plane; he doesn’t like to see journalists asking annoying question around him anyway, but this time the criteria became really narrow. Umut Oran, Deputy Chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) asked the prime minister about his criteria, since Erdoğan excluded most popular papers like Hürriyet, Zaman, Posta, or critical ones like Sözcü, Cumhuriyet, Radikal, and whether the travel expenses of journalists from pro-government papers would be covered on the government budget.

CPJ report: Turkey world’s 10th most dangerous country for journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Wednesday released a special report for 2014 designating Turkey is the world’s 10 worst country for journalists, once again underlining the country’s deteriorating situation for freedom of expression and free media.

Gülen, Hizmet, the state and the AKP

Gülen has placed much emphasis on education. With a new ijtihad (independent reasoning), he always stated that instead of building a mosque, religious businessmen must establish secular schools that will educate the future’s engineers, doctors, lawyers, journalists and yes, police, prosecutors and judges.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

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

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

The Gulen Movement Is Not a Cult — It’s One of the Most Encouraging Faces of Islam Today

Pacific Dialogue Platform in Philippines was opened with Iftar

Prove it [that Hizmet linked to graft operation]

Egyptian Professor: Turkish Schools to Guarantee Global Peace

Bangladeshi professor published his second book on Fethullah Gulen

Erdoğan’s ‘Reichstag fire’

The Muslim Way to React

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News