4-year-old visits dad in jail on Children’s Day wearing T-shirt with newborn brother’s picture
Date posted: April 24, 2017
We can all pack up and go home because a 4-year-old has just rendered Turkey’s Children’s Day meaningless.
Minutes before paying a visit to her jailed father early on Sunday morning, H.A. was photographed in front of Sakarya L Type Prison wearing a T-shirt bearing a photo of her newborn baby brother.
She couldn’t bring the infant himself to visit due to regulations; therefore, his photo was printed on her T-shirt to show the imprisoned father his newborn son.
The father was reportedly arrested as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement, which is accused of masterminding a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
The movement denies any involvement.
However, the government has so far investigated around 90,000 people and jailed more than 47,000 over links to the group. Prisoners in such investigations include teachers, doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, students, plumbers, football players, actors and even a comedian.
One way to repair the damage dealt by the Erdoğan government in the last couple of years and to provide some form of closure for the dark period of Erdoğan’s third term in government is to set up a truth and reconciliation commission. Without discounting the role of the criminal justice system, a truth commission can be utilized in a complementary role to help citizens move on with their lives in Turkey after colossal wrongdoings in the government.
Or is it Gülenophobia?
Turkey’s frequently changing agenda has recently been dominated by one issue: An İstanbul prosecutor overseeing an investigation into a Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)-linked terrorist organization has asked the Ankara Prosecutor’s Office to hear the testimony of National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan and has obtained arrest warrants for four other MİT agents. MERVE BÜŞRA […]
Turkey introduces new decree law to seize all Gulen-related companies
Thanks to a new decree law released as part of the state of emergency declared late on July 20 following a failed coup, Turkey’s government is now set to seize all the Turkish companies owned by businessmen somehow linked to the US-based Islamic Scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Why Is Turkey Targeting Hizmet? Questions about Erdoğan’s Post-Coup Crackdown
In May 2009, I received an award at the International Turkish Olympiad. The event was sponsored and organized by members of the Hizmet movement and most of the performers were students of Hizmet schools abroad. When I, together with a handful of other recipients, mounted the stage to accept our awards, there to shake our hands was the smiling then prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyib Erdoğan.
Erdogan’s war on education: The exodus of Turkey’s teachers
They were happy when Greek police caught them. “They treated us very well,” Hakan says. “Zehra told us she felt safer spending [several nights] in jail than [she did] in Turkey. She said: ‘The Greek police are keeping us safe from the Turks.'”
The Gülen Movement and Turkish Soft Power*
The Gülen approach to education aptly demonstrates the group’s global strategy—Gülen movement schools are open to both Turkish migrants and citizens of host countries, and they avoid advancing a religious agenda. These schools aim to help Turkish migrants succeed in their host societies without losing sight of their Turkish roots, and at the same time they promote social unity by serving the needs of migrants and local students alike. The success of Gülen movement schools stems both from the success of the students (and the satisfaction of the parents) and from the prestige and goodwill they enjoy among local and political authorities for promoting integration and acting as a social mediator.
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
Turkey’s recent view from the US
Limits of political Islam: the other face of AKP (2)
Kazakh-Turkish School students win medals in mathematics competition in Brazil
Mueller Probes Flynn’s Role in Alleged Plan to Deliver Gulen to Turkey
Erdogan at UN urges global action against preacher
Turkish cleric calls for international body to examine coup charges
Turkish schools holding Indonesia’s largest science olympiad
