Date posted: July 18, 2016
CNN’s Ivan Watson looks at Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish cleric living in the US who President Erdogan squarely blames for the deadly failed
Source: CNN , July 17, 2016
Tags: Defamation of Hizmet | Fethullah Gulen | Hizmet and politics | Military coups in Turkey |

I am not Iranian, how can I be like Khomeini? Nor have I ever had the pretensions that Khomeini had. I’m the child of my own country. If one day I return to Turkey, I will be the same as I’ve always been,” the U.S.-based Gülen said in a video-recorded message on March 5.

The Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) efforts to undermine the largest aid organization in Turkey, Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There?) reached a new level with alleged preparations to dissolve the board of the organization and appoint a trustee instead, although no legal grounds exist for such a move.

Hermann says Erdoğan’s efforts to destroy the Hizmet movement are aimed at consolidating his own power and regime. “Erdoğan wants to wipe out everyone whom he sees as a rival. There are not many left to challenge him. That left the Hizmet movement as a corrective force. The movement is a danger to him.

The Ministry of Education and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government have been focusing on closing down private prep schools for university preparation (dershanes) and Turkish schools abroad instead of spending its energy on resolving critical problems in the Turkish education system, experts say.

Those who order ambassadors to put their citizens abroad in a difficult position in violation of human rights and national interests do not understand this: The international community is more concerned about whether the government sticks to democratic principles and the rule of law and less about who triggered the recent political crisis.

Having failed to make progress on the settlement process, which was supposed to pave the way for the disarming of Kurdish militants and address long-standing Kurdish demands, the Turkish government has now turned its attention to finding a scapegoat on which to place blame for the stalled talks ahead of national elections slated for June 2015.
