Liberals silent as Turkey targets its own Khashoggi


Date posted: June 17, 2021

Michael Rubin

On Oct. 2, 2018, Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi walked into Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul to process documents necessary for his forthcoming marriage. As soon as he entered the consulate, Saudi intelligence officers set upon and dismembered him.

The world reacted with opprobrium. Time named Khashoggi a “person of the year.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that “humanity’s shared conscience” should trump any claims of diplomatic immunity and demanded that Saudi Arabia “lay bare all perpetrators from top to bottom and hold them accountable before the law.” When Secretary of State Antony Blinken entered office, he announced a “Khashoggi ban” to restrict visas for those involved in harassment or suppression of dissidents.

Blinken’s idea was good, but a new case that bears similarities to the Khashoggi episode will show whether Blinken was sincere or simply virtue-signaling.

On May 31, Orhan Inandi, a Turkish-born educator and Kyrgyz citizen who founded a popular school network in Kyrgyzstan went missing in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. After his car was found five miles from his house, all its doors open and tires flattened, his families contacted Kyrgyz authorities.

Orhan’s wife Reyhan reported (and the Turkish Minute has confirmed) that Turkish intelligence officers are holding him at the Turkish Embassy in Bishkek, torturing him, and seeking to compel him to sign papers renouncing his Kyrgyz citizenship. Crowds have gathered in front of the Turkish Embassy demanding his release and blocking all embassy gates. Turkish intelligence officials reportedly have a private jet standing by at Bishkek’s airport to take him to Turkey but are unable to remove him from the embassy.

Turkish authorities justify their kidnapping and torture of Inandi on the fact that he is a follower of dissident theologian Fethullah Gulen, whose hizmetmovement promotes traditional Anatolian Sufi Islam in sharp juxtaposition to the more extreme interpretations Erdogan embraces. While Turkey has extradited or rendered more than 100 dissidents since Erdogan split with Gulen a decade ago, the Inandi case appears the first time that Turkey is attempting to kidnap someone who is not a Turkish citizen from his home country.

Erdogan justifies his torture, abuse, and murder of dissidents because he believes all Gulen’s followers are terrorists. This philosophy parallels the logic that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman used to launch an international operation against Khashoggi. Just as Erdogan once embraced Gulen, the Saudi royal family once worked fist in glove with the Muslim Brotherhood. That Khashoggi remained a Muslim Brotherhood acolyte was enough in Mohammed’s mind to end Khashoggi’s life.

Blinken rightly recognized that Khashoggi’s personal religious beliefs did not justify Saudi actions. After all, no credible evidence existed linking Khashoggi to terrorism or violence. The same is true with Inandi: There is no evidence that he engaged in violence; his treatment is due only to his faith.

It is not clear whether Inandi remains alive. Either way, Blinken’s silence undercuts the moral authority of his Khashoggi stance. It suggests his anger was more feigned than real and motivated more by hatred of Saudi authorities than by a desire to stand up for faith and freedom.

Time is running out. It is time for Blinken to speak out on Inandi’s case. He could start by imposing Khashoggi ban sanctions on the man who now most deserves them: Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Michael Rubin (@Mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential. He is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Source: Washington Examiner , June 8, 2021


Related News

Turkish family drowned in Aegean Sea while escaping from Erdogan regime

Victims of Erdogan regime are increasing everyday as there has not been an effective mechanism preventing him. A Turkish Family with three children drowned in Aegean Sea while escaping from Erdogan’ autocratic regime as they had last their hope to survive in Turkey.

Teacher arrested after repairman found Gülen’s audio CD in computer

A Samsun teacher, identified as Osman K., was detained after a repairman found in his computer a CD that features speeches by Fethullah Gulen. The audio CD, titled Kalbin Miraci, featured faith-based sermons Gulen delivered at mosques in Turkey in the past.

Erdogan’s False Promises To Africa

The main issue Erdogan raises with his African counterparts is not improving economic and political relations, but the closure of the Gulen movement schools or their transfer to the Turkish Maarif Foundation, which was established solely for this purpose. Mr. Erdogan seems to be using official development assistances and “other financial tools” as carrots to convince African leaders.

Somalia’s brightest compete for education in Turkey

Youth in the Somali capital of Mogadishu formed long lines in front of schools this week as they competed for a slot in a rapidly expanding student exchange program sponsored by the Turkish relief organization Kimse Yok Mu. The organization is planning to provide scholarships for 350 new students from the famine-stricken nation. Bilal Çelik, […]

Turkish schools get award for advanced study in Benin, Mongolia

“The Turkish school is the sole contributor that makes Benin’s reputation high via its students, who are successful in international [educational] Olympiads,” the president said in a written statement.

Education remains an alarming concern for scores of Syrian refugees

The topic of providing education to the Syrian refugee children was recently addressed by a meeting hosted by Kimse Yok Mu, the Journalist and Writers Foundation and the Peace Islands Institute (PII) in a panel held at the United Nations in New York.

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

State Islam versus civic Islam

Gülen says arms, swords have no place in Hizmet’s philosophy

Hizmet movement sticks to principles, AK Party transformed by the state

3 journalists detained after interview with jailed Gülen-linked businessman

Greek Orthodox Bishop Demetrios Honored

Head of Turkish Olympiads committee: The Nobel Foundation cannot overlook us

Minister: Turkish gov’t racks up $5 bln in confiscation of Gülen-linked properties

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News