Turkey calls on parents to report Erdogan critics at German schools
Supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan wave Turkish flags during a pro-government protest in Cologne, Germany July 31, 2016. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen
Date posted: February 16, 2017
Turkish consulates in Germany have been organizing events for Turkish parents and asking them to spy on critics of the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkey at German schools, according to an education trade union, GEW (Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft).
“The Turkish consulates are pushing parents to intimidate teachers and to report teachers who criticize Turkey or President Erdoğan,” GEW official Süleyman Ateş told German media.
“We certainly know about such events in the Turkish Consulates in Düsseldorf and Essen. In other cities, we have heard from parents that there should have been such events, ” Ateş said.
Earlier, German authorities launched investigation into Turkish imams affiliated with Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB) who were alleged to have been spying on Erdoğan’s critics.
A document dated Sept. 20, 2016 said that the Turkey’s religious directorate Diyanet asked Turkish missions and religious representatives abroad to profile Gülen movement expatriates living in their respective countries.
Peter Pilz, an Austrian opposition lawmaker claimed this week that Turkey has also been operating an informer network via its embassy in Vienna that targets Erdoğan critics.
The Gulen Movement Is Not a Cult — It’s One of the Most Encouraging Faces of Islam Today
How will it end? Erdogan has beaten Hizmet decisively. But he is planting the seeds for his own destruction. How and when he will fall remains unclear. Meanwhile, on the international scene, Turkey is rapidly becoming a pariah. The country itself is now his primary victim.
Concluding statement of the International panel on Mary announced
The international panel, titled “Mary in the Holy Scripture and Qur’an,” which was jointly held by the Journalists and Writers Foundation’s (GYV) Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADİP), the Tevere Institute and İzmir Intercultural Dialogue Center (İZDİM), was concluded with a statement.
For first time, Fethullah Gülen curses purge of police officials in emotional speech
Fethullah Gülen has cursed those responsible for a purge of police officials involved in a corruption investigation. Turkish PM Tayyip Erdoğan has called the detention of scores of people seen as close to the government a “dirty operation” aimed at undermining his rule. Erdoğan has refrained from naming Gülen as the hand behind the investigation and he referred to an “illegal gang within the state” and systematically purged officials, including journalists in public broadcasters.
Land of Private high school declared green space
The İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) recently declared a piece of land on which a private high school had been being built to be a green space. The high school is a branch of Fatih Koleji, a private institution affiliated with the Hizmet movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Extraditing Gulen and other dark conspiracies
Despite his pressures, Turkish prosecutors have not agreed to write an indictment against Gulen. On the other hand, Gulen has already been tried in absentia between 1999-2008 for all the accusations now recycled and repeated by Erdogan. The Kemalist military establishment was very powerful at the time and they were almost in full control of the state but they still could not produce concrete evidence against Gulen.
Should Hizmet establish a political party?
If the Hizmet movement had believed that services to Turkey can best be provided through politics, it would have done so from the beginning. Civil society has a special place in democracies. One can also serve the country by rejecting democratic pressures and upholding rule of law and individual freedoms.
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
IFLC’s ‘colors of the world’ takes stage in Brazil
Winds of ‘ijma’ beginning to pick up speed
The Erdoğan-Did-It Conspiracy
Fethullah Gulen’s books draw large interest in Sweden
For Turkish exiles in New Hampshire: No way back
Turkish headmaster accused of Isis links met Malaysian PM, not fit profile of an Isis operative
