Couple jailed for watching Fethullah Gülen videos at Internet cafe
Date posted: April 20, 2017
An Ankara couple has been sent to prison after they were caught watching videos belonging to US-based Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen at an internet cafe earlier this week.
Doğan news agency reported on Wednesday that acting on a tip from the internet café owner, police tailed the suspects — Y.M. and M.M. — and detained later them for watching the videos.
The suspects were reportedly sent to an Ankara prison early on Wednesday.
The Turkish government accuses Fethullah Gülen and the Gülen movement of being behind the July 15 coup attempt. Some 115,000 have been detained over Gülen links since last summer while critics often raise the issue of guilt by association. Gülen, meanwhile, strongly denies any involvement.
The primary reason why members of Hizmet (Service), a faith-based social movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, have been attacked, vilified and stigmatized by a government that is dominated by overzealous political Islamists and pro-Iranian sympathizers is that Gülen is standing up to the increasingly authoritarian powers of Erdoğan, who has seized control of the republic’s institutions including the judiciary, leading to increased polarization and tension in Turkish society.
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