Retired public servant under custody for distributing donations to post-coup victims
Date posted: August 27, 2017
An Izmir man, identified as M.S., was detained for helping the overseas followers of the Gulen movement raise money for post-coup victims in Turkey, on Friday.
M.S. was rounded up while he was withdrawing the money allegedly transferred from Canada-based Gulen followers to his account, at a bank branch in Izmir’s Bergama district.
Bursa police carried out an investigation to round up M.S. who was suspected of distributing money to the victims of the government crackdown against the Gulen movement in the aftermath of the July 15, 2016 failed coup.
According to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, the funds, raised to support post-coup prisoners and those under investigation as well as the people dismissed as part of the government crackdown and their families, was raised in Canada and was sent from a bank in the US.
Turkish government accuses the Gulen movement of leading the July 15, 2016 coup attempt while the latter denies involvement. The government detained more than 125,000 people and arrested 55,000 of them over ties to the movement over the past year.
A retired police officer from the western province of Izmir, M.S. was also caught in the government’s post-coup purge as his son, also a public servant, has been recently arrested over ties to the Gulen movement.
Turkey’s Ongoing Crackdown: nearly 13,000 police officers suspended for alleged links to the Gulen movement
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suspended nearly 13,000 police officers over suspected links to Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric Turkey says is responsible for the July 15 coup attempt. Erdogan’s critics believe he has used the coup as an opportunity to crack down on his political opposition. Erdogan was often accused of trying to silence critics.
RTÜK issues fines to intimidate Samanyolu TV
The Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) has been harassing TV networks that it deems to be anti-government, and Samanyolu TV has become one of its major targets. The fines have mostly come following the Dec. 17, 2013 corruption operation, in which several businessmen close to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the sons of three ministers were detained over corruption charges.
President Erdoğan envies the Hizmet according to prominent columnist
Subsequent to the corruption probe the AK Party had denied the charges, blaming the Hizmet movement accusing it of orchestrating the probe. “This is when the antagonizing rhetoric started,” according to Alkan. President Erdoğan has in fact openly vowed to bring down the movement and anyone it perceives as being affiliated with it.
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.
PM Erdoğan widens hostile stance to include more and more groups
Erdoğan has been trying to dodge the damaging impact of the corruption scandals by using Hizmet as a scapegoat. Gülen, an ardent supporter of transparency and accountability in government, was critical of Erdoğan government’s efforts to stall the corruption investigations. Speaking to the BBC on Monday, Gülen said that the massive corruption investigations that have shaken the government cannot be covered up no matter how hard the government tries to derail the probes — not even by blaming the scandal on what the prime minister has called the “parallel state,” a veiled reference to the Hizmet movement inspired by Gülen.
Hate discourse directed against Hizmet movement
It is impossible not to see the polarization among the people over the upcoming presidential elections; this polarization raises serious concerns. It is also possible to consider the verbal attacks and violence against the Hizmet movement in the context of the literature on politicide and genocide. However, not only the Hizmet movement will suffer from repressive-hegemonic politicide. The entire country of Turkey will be hurt by this.
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
Acting in ‘Selam’ a once-in-a-lifetime experience for actors
Turkish Schools in Afghanistan organized the eighth annual science competition
Turkish PM’s wife praises devotion of Prague school’s teachers
Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?
17 Nigerian-Turkish schools caught in Ankara coup crossfire
False reports on Bank Asya breach laws
‘Portraying Hizmet against settlement process groundless’
