Those not supporting Erdogan regime labelled as Gulen follower, given harsh punishment


Date posted: December 28, 2019

New Delhi [India], Dec 26 (ANI): M Behzad Fatmi, a Turkish political expert and commentator, has said that those people who are not throwing their weight behind the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are given a very severe punishment and is dubbed as a follower of the US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose Gulen movement has been blamed by Ankara for the failed 2016 coup bid and is designated as a "terrorist organisation.

The scribe said that Ankara’s crackdown on Gullen followers amounts to “social and economic genocide” and asserted that the self-exiled scholar had no connection in the coup d’etat aimed at overthrowing the Erdogan regime.

“The Turkish government’s actions against the followers of Fethullah Gulen can easily be described as social and economic genocide. After more than three years of the so-called coup attempt of July 15, 2016, it is absolutely clear that Gulen had no connection whatsoever with the dreadful events of the night. He has been made a scapegoat in order to crush all opposition voices in the country,” Fatmi said in an e-mail interview to ANI.

“Using him, the Erdogan regime is not only punishing his followers but also the Kurds, the liberals and the Kemalists. Anyone who is not subservient to the regime is labelled a Gulen follower and given harshest of punishments,” he added.

The journalist lauded Gulen movement, also called the Hizmet movement, for its key contributions in various fields including education and poverty alleviation.

“As far as Gulen himself is concerned, he is a renowned Islamic scholar who has inspired a global social movement called the Hizmet/Gulen movement. The Hizmet movement is known for its remarkable achievements in the fields of education, interfaith and intercultural dialogue and poverty alleviation,” Fatmi outlined.

Slamming the government over the economic turmoil in Turkey, Fatmi said that the authoritarian rule of the Erdogan regime has turned the country into any other “Middle East” country from a “model state” in the region. He also said that Turkey competes with Iran and China in jailing scribes despite being a NATO member and a candidate country of the European Union.

“It is a shame that the party under which Turkey’s economy boomed for almost a decade has now brought the country’s economy to a crisis. The Erdogan regime’s insistence on remaining in power regardless of their ability to properly govern the country has made Turkey just another Middle Eastern state from the “model state” in the region. No country that has a head of state as authoritarian and intolerant as Recep Tayyip Erdogan can progress. Despite being a full member of NATO and a candidate country of the European Union, Turkey under Erdogan competes with Iran and China in jailing journalists,” he said.

“With erosion on democracy in the country, Turkey’s economy was bound to fail and it has failed,” Fatmi added.

Asked whether former Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, once a close Erdogan ally, would be able to defeat the Turkish strongman in the next general election scheduled for 2023, Fatmi remarked that it is too early to speculate but said the former should be given a chance to prove himself.

“It is too early to say whether Ahmet Davutoglu would be a good alternative to Erdogan. After all, Turkey’s drift towards authoritarianism had already started when Davutoglu was the prime minister of the country. It was during his time as the prime minister (2014 to 2016) that some prominent media outlets were raided and forced to go offline by the police,” said the Turkish political writer.

>”During his tenure as foreign minister, Turkey adopted disastrous foreign policies like trying to topple Bashar al Assad regime by supporting radical elements in Syria. Having said this, it is also important to note that trying to create an alternative by forming a rival party to Erdogan’s AKP is a bold step by Davutoglu. Perhaps he is attempting to undo some of the blunders he has committed with Erdogan. He should be given a chance to prove himself,” he further said.

Davutoglu had resigned as prime minister in 2016 after a document dubbed as the ‘Pelican Files’ was leaked detailing points of contention between him and Erdogan.<br />He resigned from the AKP earlier this month and formed a new party called the Future’s Party.

The 60-year-old Erdogan foe had also served as foreign minister from 2009 to 2014 and as Erdogan’s chief advisor.

Davutoglu has accused the Turkish strongman of economic mismanagement and said he decided to form his own party to fight against the “cult of the leader” politics in the country. (ANI)

Source: ANI News , December 26, 2019


Related News

US law professor: Gülen extradition would be unlawful

Seval Yıldırım, a professor of law at Whittier Law School, said in a statement to Today’s Zaman on Wednesday that for the US to extradite Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen without a formal case against him would be an infringement of US law.

‘Everybody reads about Prophet Muhammad’

Anyone who wants to know and understand Prophet Muhammad from trustworthy sources can sign up for the project on the website www.herkesonuokuyor.com, and that the project offers examinations in three categories: middle school level, high school level and adult level. Middle school students will be tested from the book “Efendiler Efendisi Hz. Muhammed” by Rahime Kaya, while high school students will answer questions related to Reşit Haylamaz’s “Efendimiz” and adults will take an exam from “Sonsuz Nur” by M. Fethullah Gülen, Kuzu explained.

The witch-hunt reaches Turkey’s media

“If this is a witch-hunt, yes, we will carry out this witch-hunt,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a few months ago to confront criticism that his government has gone too far in removing police officers and prosecutors who carried out a corruption investigation against his ministers and son.

National Development Requires Peaceful Co-existence

Organized by the Ghana-Turkey Co-operation and Development Association (TUDEC), the Great Volta Foundation Dialogue Centre and the Fountain Magazine, in collaboration with the National Peace Council. The conference stressed that peaceful co-existence is possible only when people learn to accept, embrace and respect one another in spite of their religious and racial differences.

Turkish expats in Singapore concerned over state of emergency back home

Dr Nawab says: “What is more accurate is to describe it as a community of people who, perhaps, subscribe to the ideas of Fethullah Gulen. “They put in a lot of effort to integrate within Singapore society. Many of them are married to Singaporeans and are naturalised citizens. I am talking about Turks who would take you to durian parties.”

Muslim Networks and Movements in Western Europe: Gülen Movement

The Gülen movement refers to a cluster of religious, educational and social organizations founded and inspired by Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish Islamic scholar, author and speaker now in his late 60s. The movement strives to give faithful Muslims the secular education they need to thrive in the modern world. At the same time, it also […]

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

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

In Case You Missed It

We need the Hizmet Movement example in Tunisia

TÜBİTAK changes olympiad scoring system, penalizes private schools

If whoever touched Gülen was doomed, we would have been ashes by now

Kimse Yok Mu conducts cataract surgeries in Nepal

55 students from 30 countries captivate İzmir residents with poems of praise

PM threatens business, media and civic groups amid corruption woes

Portrait of an Anatolian Muslim with no schooling*

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News