Washington Post on Erdoğan’s purge: Cruel frenzy in march towards authoritarianism


Date posted: June 9, 2017

In an editorial on Friday The Washington Post expressed a glimmer of hope that the United States was returning to its championing of democracy and human rights due to a Wednesday statement by the US State Department in defense of Amnesty International Turkey Chairman Taner Kılıç, who was recently detained on suspicion of links to the faith-based Gülen movement.

“Mr. [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, the Turkish president who was the target of a failed coup last July, has since carried out a wave of arbitrary punishments and imprisonments of thousands of journalists, academics, bureaucrats, lawyers and human rights defenders he suspects of affiliation with Mr. Gulen and his movement. This cruel frenzy is just the latest step in Mr. Erdogan’s march toward authoritarianism in a nation that was once hailed as a model majority-Muslim democracy,” said The Washington Post editorial board.

Kılıç was detained at his home in the western Turkish city of Izmir on Wednesday along with 22 other attorneys for alleged ties to the Gülen movement.

“The United States is deeply concerned by the recent detention of Taner Kiliç, Chair of Amnesty International Turkey — the latest in a series of respected human rights defenders, journalists, academics, and activists detained in Turkey,” US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert had said in a statement on Wednesday.

Underlining that these detentions, often with little evidence or transparency, are an alarming trend, Nauert said: “We are closely following these cases, and underscore the importance of respect for due process and individual rights, as enshrined in the Turkish Constitution and consistent with Turkey’s own international commitments.”

Nauert repeated the US position that “persistent curbs on free speech and other freedoms erode the foundations of democratic society.”

“Turkey benefits from having more engaged voices, not fewer. The detentions of individuals such as Mr. Kilic chill public debate and undermine the quality of democracy.”

The Post said the State Department stopped short of mentioning Erdoğan by name but that it accurately described detentions in Turkey, which are undermining Turkey’s democracy.

“We would add that there are hundreds of other cases worth speaking out about in Turkey as well, including that of French photographer Mathias Depardon, who has been detained  since May for committing acts of journalism while on assignment for National Geographic.”

Depardon, after a month in detention, was released on Friday and deported to France.

Criticizing President Donald Trump for abandoning the US’s championing of democracy and market capitalism by relying on example and promoting these values as superior to the miseries of tyranny, the Post said Trump has “hardly said a word to authoritarian bosses about repression of their people and has made no secret of his affinity for strongmen,” including Erdoğan.

“The United States must not only lead by example, as Mr. Trump suggested on taking office. It must also lead by speaking out forcefully on behalf of people whose rights are shackled in dark corners of the globe,” the editorial board concluded.

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.

Source: Turkish Minute , June 9, 2017


Related News

Gülen’s curse was misquoted, misinterpreted, GYV chief says

Mustafa Yeşil, chairman of the Journalists and Writers Foundation’s (GYV) executive board, in response to criticisms targeting prominent Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, said the curse uttered by Gülen did not have a direct reference and was poorly comprehended and highly manipulated by some who repeated it.

Another woman detained on coup charges one day after giving birth

Fatma Türkmen, who gave birth to a baby in Ankara on Monday, was reportedly detained on Tuesday over alleged links to the Gülen group.

Joint mosque-cemevi project launched in Tokat

Turkey’s first-ever joint mosque-cemevi complex has been under construction in Ankara since last September. The project, which is being carried out by the CEM Foundation and the Hacı Bektaş Veli Culture, Education, Health and Research Foundation, was first suggested by Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who lives in the US in self-imposed exile.

Alevis voice unease over lack of promised rights at Abant meeting

Alevis have expressed at Abant meeting their uneasiness over pro-government comments claiming that the Gezi Park protests were an “Alevi uprising,” warning against a “dangerous approach that encourages wrong perceptions.” The title of this year’s Abant Platform, which started on Dec. 13, was “Alevis and Sunnis: Searching for Peace and a Future Together.” It was organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), a group affiliated with the Gülen Movement.

Documents expose plot to hold Hizmet responsible for KPSS cheating

The Zaman daily has published documents which reveal that a plot was devised to unjustly hold the members of the Hizmet Movement responsible for a cheating scandal at the State Personnel Examination (KPSS) in 2010.

Fethullah Gülen issued the following statement on Turkey’s extradition request

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today once again demonstrated he will go to any length necessary to solidify his power and persecute his critics. It is ridiculous, irresponsible and false to suggest I had anything to do with the horrific failed coup. I urge the US government to reject any effort to abuse the extradition process to carry out political vendettas.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Turkish Schools in Africa

No country is safe for Gülen sympathizers, Erdoğan says

Fethullah Gulen’s Message of Condolences and Condemnation for Terrorist Attack Against Mosque in Egypt

If you do not stand against injustice

Sweep these [journalists] off the floor

Enes Kanter Foundation and Embrace Relief launches campaign for Hurricane Harvey victims and families

Statement on Erdogan Government’s shameful action against Fethullah Gulen

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News