Turkey’s prominent journalist Fehmi Koru answered Ece Uner’s questions on Haberturk TV. He also made comments about the AK Party-Gulen Movement conflict and the probability that the Gulen Movement may engage in active party politics.
Koru said, “What you call as the movement is a civil society organization. They let politicians do the daily politics. They have political opinions and they try to influence politics. But they do this by having relations with politicians as they did in the past. It is against the nature of the movement to impose any opinion on the government. If there is sharp irreconcilable disagreement between the movement and the AK Party, they may found a political party. But if they do so, they will lose the advantage of being a [civil society] movement. They will face more criticism when they found a political party.
Thousands in anti-corruption protests; Erdoğan defiant
Thousands took to the streets of İstanbul on Sunday to protest against the government over a corruption scandal that has led to multiple arrests, including sons of two ministers and general manager of the state-run Halkbank.
Twenty-four people, including the sons of two ministers and the head of state-owned Halkbank, have been formally charged in connection with the corruption inquiry that Erdoğan has called a “dirty operation” to undermine his rule.
The Hizmet movement and participatory democracy
The Hizmet movement’s objections make an important contribution to the formation of participatory democracy in Turkey. So far, Turkish democracy was a game among political parties in the absence of a strong civil society and market actors.
Government blocks bank accounts of aid organization
The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government’s efforts to disrupt the work of Turkey’s leading aid organization Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) continues with the unlawful blocking of the organization’s bank accounts on Oct. 22.
US intel director: Turkish purge impeding fight against ‘Islamic State’
Turkey’s purge has removed military officers who’d been key figures in the US-led fight against the so-called “Islamic State,” says US intelligence head James Clapper. He called it a setback in US-Turkish cooperation.
The Hizmet movement, politics and the AKP
Hizmet cannot establish a political party because politics all over the world are mostly based on contention, challenge, belittling opponents and division. Forming a political party would harm the Hizmet movement but similar to Rumi’s compass, it endeavors to establish critically constructive contact with every single human being on the planet. Its main mission is to build bridges across cultures, communities, religions and so on.
A reality check on [Turkey coup attempt] from America’s spy chief
Asked whether Turkish allegations that cleric Fethullah Gulen planned the attempted coup passed the “smell test” of credibility, National Intelligence Director James Clapper answered: “No. Not to me.” He said that Secretary John Kerry “was right on the ball” to press the Turks to back up their extradition request with evidence of Gulen’s involvement.
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