60-year-old Turkish villager detained after questioning gov’t coup narrative
Date posted: November 21, 2017
Murat Gulen, a 60-year-old villager and a relative of Fethullah Gulen was detained after he was revealed questioning the government’s narrative over the July 15, 2016 coup attempt during a video interview by the pro-government Ihlas News Agency.
On Thursday, Ihlas published the video recording, filmed in Fethullah Gulen’s hometown of Korucuk village, and media reported the same day that Gulen was taken into police custody for questioning.
Turkish government accuses the Gulen movement of masterminding the failed takeover while the latter denies involvement. More than 130,000 were held in custody and some 60,000 of them were remanded in pretrial detention over Gulen ties so far.
Evidence of Gulen links include depositing money into the movement-affliated, now-defunct Bank Asya, as mentioned by the villager during the interview.
Many were earlier targeted for raising question marks over the government’s narrative.
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Erdoğan’s obvious target was Fethullah Gülen, but it is clear that he also attacked anyone who doesn’t think like him with phrases such as “false prophets,” “fake mystics” and “so-called scholars.” This denigration is problematic especially in terms of secularism. Indeed, the prime minister hurls gross insults at religious interpretations that diverge from his own. In his capacity as a prime minister, he imposes his beliefs and acts onto those who do not think like him. One step beyond these remarks would be the prime minister’s supporters’ resorting to violence against those he places on the bull’s eye.
Russian envoy’s murderer attended sermons of controversial pro-Erdoğan cleric
While the Turkish government insists on claiming that Mert Altıntaş, the police officer who assassinated the Russian ambassador to Ankara, is linked to the Gülen movement, it has been discovered that the gunman attended the sermons of Nurettin Yıldız, a staunch supporter of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Police raid schools in Diyarbakır where locals go on strike in protest of recent gov’t practices
Police officers and inspectors carried out raids on a number of schools inspired by the faith-based Gülen movement as part of a government-led operation against the movement in southeastern province of Diyarbakır, where people have gone on strike in protest of the government’s recent practices in the province.
President emphasizes importance of domestic peace for development
President Abdullah Gül has underlined the importance of domestic peace for Turkey to keep up its development, noting that the country should not waste its energy by focusing on “unnecessary rumors,” an almost open reference to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s defamation campaign targeting the Hizmet movement, a volunteer-based grassroots movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
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