Corruption investigation: Questions that will hound PM Erdoğan

Everyone is wondering now what is behind the corruption investigation, and the first “suspect” to come to many minds is the Islamist Gülen movement. Tensions between this group and the AKP have been rising over the years, and boiled over recently due to the prep-school issue – a matter that has received wide media coverage.

The Gülen movement denies this but the vitriol flying between daily Zaman, which is close to Gülen, and Yeni Şafak, which is staunchly pro-AKP, is enough to give one a sense of the bitter struggle involved.

Train, equip and persecute?

It’s never easy to find diplomats who speak publicly without beating around the bush and concealing facts, even if they are retired. Exceptions make especially us journalists happy. Former United States Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone is one of them.

Erdoğan’s scapegoats: the West and Gülen

Erdogan can even push for a ridiculous extradition application to be made to the US, and when this is refused, he will use this in his public rallies as evidence to show that the US is working with Gülen to topple his government. As I said, he is not bound by ethics and knows very well that corruption is a fact in Turkey but prefers to present himself as the victim.

Turkish PM tightens grip on judiciary in parliament vote

CHP had said on Thursday it would appeal the bill in the Constitutional Court if it was approved in parliament. “If you accept this law, soon you will be repealing the constitution,” CHP MP Akif Hamzacebi said during the debate. “This cover-up of the allegations of corruption and bribery today has dealt a big blow to democracy and freedom.”

Mosque, cemevi to be built in same complex

İLYAS KOÇ, ANKARA In an effort to strengthen the bonds between the Alevi and Sunni communities in Turkey, a mosque and a cemevi — an Alevi house of worship — will be built in the same complex in Ankara, the head of the Alevi CEM Foundation, Professor İzzettin Doğan, said on Saturday. The construction will […]

Pro-Kurdish deputy welcomes Gülen’s support for peace talks

Pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy Ahmet Türk has welcomed support of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen for the peace talks between the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the government. “View of Fethullah Gülen [on peace talks] is reasonable, welcoming,” Türk told CNN Türk TV channel in an interview on […]