Canadian rights advocate says Turkey’s post-coup crackdown amounts to genocide


Date posted: July 11, 2017

Turkey’s post-coup witch-hunt of the Gulen movement followers is tantamount to genocide, Renee Vaugeois, a Canadian human rights specialist said in a recent interview.

“This a targeted war on a specific group of people in Turkey and to me that speaks to genocide,” Vaugeois, the executive director of the Edmonton-based John Humphrey Centre for Peace & Human Rights, told state-run CBC news on Monday.

“We need to support those that are putting themselves in danger to try and figure out how to save their families,” she concluded.

According to CBC news, Vaugeois has recently sent a letter to Canada’s immigration minister Ahmed Hussen urging him to expedite the approval of the permanent residency of a Turkish citizen who fled the witch hunt in Turkey in the aftermath of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt.

Turkish government accuses the Gulen movement of masterminding the coup attempt while the latter denies involvement. The government has already detained more than 120,000 people over links to the movement, with many human rights groups reported torture and maltreatment on those detainees.

Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has tried to mobilize Turkish citizens to report Gulen followers to police. Erdoğan said in a public speech last month 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.”

On some occasions, pro-government shopkeepers across Turkey hung banners on their premises that read: “Gulen sympathizers not allowed inside.”

Source: Turkey Purge , July 11, 2017


Related News

Diverging points between AKP and Hizmet movement: Kurdish question

The fundamental difference Popp observed is that while the government has been trying to persuade the PKK to lay down its guns, the Gulen movement goes one step further and works to remove the social and cultural problems that caused the Kurdish problem.

Corruption investigation: Questions that will hound PM Erdoğan

Everyone is wondering now what is behind the corruption investigation, and the first “suspect” to come to many minds is the Islamist Gülen movement. Tensions between this group and the AKP have been rising over the years, and boiled over recently due to the prep-school issue – a matter that has received wide media coverage.

The Gülen movement denies this but the vitriol flying between daily Zaman, which is close to Gülen, and Yeni Şafak, which is staunchly pro-AKP, is enough to give one a sense of the bitter struggle involved.

Ekrem Dumanli: Turkey’s witch hunt against the media

Turkey’s leader for almost 12 years, Erdogan contributed to economic successes and democratic reforms during his first and second terms. However, emboldened by consecutive election victories and incompetent opposition parties, he is now leading Turkey toward one-man, one-party rule.

Turkish PM Yıldırım names July 15 coup attempt as ‘project’ he did not like

In remarks that fueled suspicions even further that the Turkish government was involved in a failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on Thursday that July 15 was a “project” he did not like or approve of.

Mass firings in Turkey: ‘We have been given a social death sentence’

Some 134,000 people were fired after Turkey’s failed coup in 2016. Most are still jobless, forced to fight for healthcare and retirement benefits, and many suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Bank Asya faithful boost deposits after Turkey seizes lender

Bank Asya has become a battleground in the feud between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and self-exiled, U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, a preacher whom Erdogan blames for instigating a coup attempt against him and whose followers founded the lender. Supporters of each have sought, by turn, to strengthen and weaken the bank.

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

The International Justice Conference Hailed A Major Success

Can the West believe in Islamic progress?

Students of Turkish school in Iraq learn four languages

Turkey overshadows war-hit Syria in number of academics seeking asylum elsewhere

Spinning on the Same World

Governor’s office leads raid against Gülen inspired school based on annulled law

Gülen says never considered establishing political party

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News