Indonesia and Turkey: Similar but Different

Indonesian President Joko Widodo with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the latter’s state visit to Indonesia. (Photo source: Cabinet Secretary websitego.id)
Indonesian President Joko Widodo with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the latter’s state visit to Indonesia. (Photo source: Cabinet Secretary websitego.id)


Date posted: August 4, 2015

Jakarta, GIVnews.com

Last Thursday (30/7), President Erdoğan started his three-day state visit to Indonesia. After a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, they held a joint press conference in the State Palace. Several agreements were made in the talks, including a promise to remove trade barriers and a proposal to improve ties in intelligence to stop Indonesians from joining the Islamic State.

On the other side, there is one very important thing that Indonesia must avoid. The Turkish government has been inching ever closer to becoming an Islamist nation, abandoning its secularity that has acted as the foundation of modern Turkey until now. The government’s power is also getting increasingly concentrated in the hands of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is also Turkey’s former prime minister for eleven years. Erdogan has been using rather nasty measures to eliminate challenges to his reign, most notably that from Fethullah Gülen, a moderate Turkish Muslim figure who is currently living in a self-imposed exile in the United States. Now, Erdoğan’s government suffers from allegations of corruption, politicization of the judiciary, media intimidation and censorship, electoral fraud, and political polarization.

Excerpt from Global Indonesian Voices, August 5, 2015

Tags: | | |


Related News

I Weep For Turkey

It has been the same topic of discourse everywhere. And it won’t stop anytime soon because of the atrocities that have followed, all in the name of sanitising the country and arresting masterminds of the phantom coup. The news coming out of Turkey has been really disturbing to many, and equally baffling to the world.

Fethullah Gulen talking about Turkey’s failed coup: Responses to Philadelphia World Affairs Council

Right now, all critical voices are silenced in Turkey and only the voice of those in power is heard. Consequently both Turkish people and outside observers are misled. The misperception about the coup continues because there is only one voice. The government interprets everything according to their calculations. They are using this event to express the antipathy they already had against Hizmet movement. The coup attempt is serving to justify their plans to persecute Hizmet movement.

Afghan Parents Complain to UN Over Detention of Turkish Teachers

The parents’ committee of Afghan-Turk schools on Monday called for an end to the oversight by the security forces on the movement of all those teachers who were last week detained during a raid in Kabul.

Lawyer rejects alleged Gülen remarks published by leftist daily

The lawyer of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has denied alleged remarks made by his client against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) that were published by a leftist daily on Oct. 9. The leftist Birgün daily published the transcript of an alleged audio recording, which the newspaper claims belongs to Gülen and which was first released by a hacker group, Roj Hack, on the Internet.

Turkey asks imams abroad to profile Gülen-linked expatriates

A document dated Sept. 20, 2016 shows that Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) asked Turkish missions and religious representatives abroad to profile Gülen movement expatriates living in their respective foreign countries.

Pak-Turk Schools react to baseless claims

Turkish Schools in Pakistan reacted to the recent claims that the schools will be nationalized. “The claims are entirely baseless without any merit,” the schools’ officials said.

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

Northern Illinois Conference Leaders Join Delegation to Turkey

Turkish school in Uganda challenges discrimination against albinos

Karzai honored Turkish schools in his country

Inmates claim torture in Turkish prison

Turkish ambassador draws ire as she implies Gülen-affiliated schools in Macedonia raise terrorists

Auto companies from 27 countries join TUSKON summit

They busted the house of a deceased teacher to take her under custody

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News