Erdoğan: Our people will punish Gülenists in the streets if they ever get out of jail
Date posted: June 8, 2017
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a public speech on Wednesday that if people affiliated with Turkey’s Gülen group are released from prison after completing their prison terms, the Turkish public will “punish them in the streets.”
The speech drew strong reactions from international human rights advocacy groups as the president openly called for “genocide” by declaring “the entire group as the enemy” and justified its destruction.
Erdoğan said in his speech:
“If they [Gülenists] are released after completing their prison sentences, every time they see them in the streets, my people will punish them. They will spit in their faces. And they [Gülenists] are going to drown in my people’s spittle.”
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen group.
The group strongly denies any involvement.
According to a report by the state-run Anadolu news agency on May 28, 154,694 individuals have been detained and 50,136 have been jailed due to alleged Gülen links since the failed coup attempt.
“There are currently 221,607 inmates in prisons. Prison capacity is 203,000, making them 9 percent over capacity,” said Justice Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Basri Bağcı informed Parliament last month, saying that some inmates have to sleep in shifts.
Will Prime Minister Erdoğan really close prep schools down if he is bent on it? Why not? Although Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, speaking after a Cabinet meeting last Monday, tried to reassure people by announcing that the government will discuss the matter once more with the stakeholders involved, PM Erdoğan refuted Arınç once again by saying they would shut them down. Isn’t this sufficient in showing his resolve in this regard?
Turkish-American community grapples with Turkey coup’s aftermath
Dr. Gokcek said he is not optimistic. He is fearful about the growing tensions in the country and coup sympathizers who might be stigmatized as traitors. On a basic level, Gokcek said, he has been able to sit down and eat with other Turkish-Americans with whom he might not always agree. “Some of those friends, I might not be able to now,” he said.
Turkey seizes another baklava maker over coup charges, appoints deputy governor as caretaker
An Istanbul court ruled that the state-run Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) takes over the administration of Hasan Gultekin Gaziantep Baklavacisi, an 8-store baklava chain. The decision was made as part of an investigation into the Gulen movement. Turkish government has already taken over more than 800 companies either by confiscating or seizing them.
Ankara’s soft-power dilemma
Turkey’s major assets in terms of successful diplomacy and soft-power policy included Turkish schools opened by the Hizmet movement all around the world; the International Turkish Language Olympiads organized by the same group; business associations within and outside the borders of Turkey; intercultural and interfaith dialogue societies; foreign language publications of Turkish society; Turkish hospitals in several countries; and Turkish international humanitarian aid organizations.
Failing to arrest outspoken NBA star, Turkish gov’t detains father
Turkish police on Friday detained Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kanter, father of NBA Oklahoma City Thunder player Enes Kanter, who the government seeks to arrest over links to the Gülen movement. “HEY WORLD MY DAD HAS BEEN ARRESTED by Turkish government and the Hitler of our century He is potentially to get tortured as thousand others,” tweeted Enes Kanter on Friday.
AK Party VP Sahin: We can only be grateful to Hizmet people
Vice President of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Mehmet Ali Şahin remarked on the relations between AK Party and the Hizmet Movement (Gulen movement) in an interview*. Şahin said, “Is it possible for us to have any issue with the people performing such activities? We can be only grateful to them. We […]
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