Fuat Avni claims Gülen-inspired schools to be closed due to fabricated auditing standards

A government whistleblower who tweets under the pseudonym Fuat Avni has claimed a new wave of police raids will be conducted on private and prep schools intended to shut them down temporarily or permanently based on fabricated auditing standards before the Nov. 1 snap election.

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.

Parents seek TL 40,000 in damages for violation of students’ educational rights

Parents İsmail and Seval Topçuoğlu are seeking TL 40,000 in damages from the Education Ministry for violating students’ educational rights by adopting a new regulation about dershanes (prep schools), claiming it aims to bypass a top court’s ruling to annul a controversial law to close down the schools.

German spy agency chief says does not believe Gulen behind Turkey coup attempt

The Turkish government has failed to convince Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency that U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen was behind last summer’s failed coup in Turkey, the BND head told a German magazine.

What do people say about corruption, gov’t and Hizmet?

Do you find the corruption operation right? Yes: 60.5 percent. No: 26.5 percent. No answer: 13 percent. Do you believe in claims that some ministers were involved in corruption? Yes: 70.1 percent. No: 16.8 percent. No answer: 13.1 percent. Do you think the government is trying to cover up claims of corruption? Yes: 59.7 percent. No: 29.6 percent. No answer: 10.7 percent.

Tentacles of Turkey’s growing autocracy reach Thailand

“After the 2010 election, Erdogan and the AKP failed to politicise the Gulen movement, a civilian Islamic phenomenon,” Erdem says. Power-hungry forces within the AKP reached out to Gulen, intent on tapping this source of mass political support. When the tactic failed, Gulen supporters came to be seen as enemies of the state.