Turkish “religious advisors” are keeping an eye on Erdogan opponents in Belgium
Brussels stabbing leaves ‘at least three people injured’ outside Turkish embassy as nationals vote in referendum over handing Erdogan more powers. The Belgian prime minister said he would not tolerate violence as Turkish nationals voted in a referendum on the future of their country (March 30, 2017)
Date posted: April 2, 2017
Turkey is pressuring “religious advisors” to keep an eye on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s opponents in 38 countries, including Belgium.
Le Soir reported on this story on Saturday. The paper got hold of an 8-page report, signed by the Turkish embassy in Brussels and its Religious affairs councillor.
The report calls preacher Fethullah Gülen’s movement a “terrorist organisation”, as Turkish authorities hold it responsible for last year’s putsch. It also mentions the Fedactio group and the sixty or so associations it includes. The report names the associations in detail, analyses their strengths, how they could be shut them down and mentions individuals. The report also talks about deregistering students from Gülen schools in Flanders en masse.
The councillor is also concerned about the existence of a “Gülen chair for intercultural studies”, part of the Social Science faculty at Leuven University (KUL).
In Belgium, how the religious councillor at the Turkish embassy behaved could be seen as interference, Le Soir pointed out.
Brookings: Takvim’s news on Hizmet movement incorrect, totally ignorant
Commenting on the Takvim news piece, Ömer Taşpınar, a Middle East expert at Brookings, said the news does not reflect the truth and that pro-government dailies publish news supporting conspiracies against the movement.
Turks Should Question The Official Narrative That Gulen Was Behind The Coup
I am not trying to absolve one side or the other. The coup attempt was a heinous assault on Turkey’s civilian politics and the plotters must be punished in a fashion that deters similar actions in the future. What I am trying to understand is why everyone agrees that Gulenists did it when there is little evidence and that is even questionable.
The story of the boy who cried wolf
The Sabah newspaper greeted the news of the 10-hour National Security Council (MGK) meeting with the headline “Parallel structure added to red book.” But this was, of course, a complete lie. For a long time now, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been indicating that the Hizmet movement — which he refers to as the “parallel structure” — would be officially added to the National Security Strategy Concept Paper as a “domestic threat.” This is a part of his personal vendetta and Erdoğan has kept up this propaganda war even as president of Turkey.
Former Turkish President Gül denies having any relationship with the Gülen movement or Fethullah Gülen but history tells…
In his answers, Gül denied having relations with neither the Gülen movement nor Fethullah Gülen. But, history tells the opposite: Gül attended many activities of the Gülen movement; he even hosted, in his official residence, students of Turkish schools from many countries during a Turkish Language and Culture Olympiad.
How the fallout from Turkey’s coup attempt has been felt in South Africa
In the late evening of Friday, July 15, word spread across the world that a coup was under way in Turkey. The president was missing, the military announced it had taken control of the country, and a few hours later, in the early hours Saturday morning, the coup was over.
‘If you are against us, you are the other’
Turkey has been witnessing a rigorous debate for the last couple of weeks over the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) vow to finish off the test prep schools, which are a source of both money and influence for its old ally, the Hizmet Movement led by the self-exiled leader, Fethullah Gülen. Like many controversies in Turkey, the issue of closing the courses and integrating them into Turkey’s poorly-established and -organized education system was not only about the prep schools, which was only the tip of the iceberg.
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