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.
As Turkey’s all-inclusive civil society organization, the Hizmet movement, which has always advocated human rights and freedom, adopted democracy, worked to make the state more transparent and accountable, supported Turkey’s accession to the EU and its integration into the world, has become a target.
Police detain another woman shortly after delivery, bringing total to 16
Ayşe Kaya, 30-year-old woman who gave birth to a baby in İstanbul early on Tuesday, was reportedly detained by police with her newborn baby later the same day. Turkish government has systematically been detaining women on coup charges either when they are pregnant or shortly after giving birth. This incident is the second in a week and 16th in the past 9 months.
Turkey’s purges are hitting its business class
It is not clear when the government will begin auctioning off seized firms. The risk is that the economy may gradually come to resemble Russia’s, where political loyalty is the price for keeping a slice of the pie. “It is like watching a piece of snow roll down a mountain,” says a veteran civil servant ousted in one of the purges. “You think it won’t hit you, until you realise it’s becoming an avalanche.”
Islamic scholar Gülen urges followers to remain calm in face of insults
Fethullah Gülen, the inspiration behind the Hizmet movement, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan continues to insult and target with a smear campaign, threatening to pursue criminal proceeding against it, has urged his followers to remain calm and avoid making inflammatory remarks about those who appeal to insults.
Turkish PM tightens grip on judiciary in parliament vote
CHP had said on Thursday it would appeal the bill in the Constitutional Court if it was approved in parliament. “If you accept this law, soon you will be repealing the constitution,” CHP MP Akif Hamzacebi said during the debate. “This cover-up of the allegations of corruption and bribery today has dealt a big blow to democracy and freedom.”
Former Turkish officer at NATO: Coup attempt was never meant to succeed
A former Turkish officer who served at NATO headquarters in Brussels but was sacked and recalled to Turkey as part of an investigation into a failed coup on July 15 claims that the putsch was clumsily executed and never intended to bring down the government, but rather served President Erdoğan to eliminate his opponents.
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