Erdoğan: Our people will punish Gülenists in the streets if they ever get out of jail
Date posted: June 8, 2017
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a public speech on Wednesday that if people affiliated with Turkey’s Gülen group are released from prison after completing their prison terms, the Turkish public will “punish them in the streets.”
The speech drew strong reactions from international human rights advocacy groups as the president openly called for “genocide” by declaring “the entire group as the enemy” and justified its destruction.
Erdoğan said in his speech:
“If they [Gülenists] are released after completing their prison sentences, every time they see them in the streets, my people will punish them. They will spit in their faces. And they [Gülenists] are going to drown in my people’s spittle.”
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen group.
The group strongly denies any involvement.
According to a report by the state-run Anadolu news agency on May 28, 154,694 individuals have been detained and 50,136 have been jailed due to alleged Gülen links since the failed coup attempt.
“There are currently 221,607 inmates in prisons. Prison capacity is 203,000, making them 9 percent over capacity,” said Justice Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Basri Bağcı informed Parliament last month, saying that some inmates have to sleep in shifts.
Human Rights Watch: Emergency Decrees Facilitate Torture in Turkey
Turkish police have tortured and otherwise ill-treated individuals in their custody after emergency decrees removed crucial safeguards in the wake of a failed coup attempt in July, 2016, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The report details 13 cases of alleged abuse, including stress positions, sleep deprivation, severe beatings, sexual abuse, and rape threats, since the coup attempt.
Slandering Turkish schools is treason according to well-known politician
In an interview with the Cihan news agency, Durak showed reaction to Erdoğan’s order to the ambassadors and he visited some of the Turkish schools in foreign countries. “Children of prime ministers and presidents and high-level bureaucrats are sent to these schools opened in Africa and many parts of the world… Many significant people are given education in these schools. I am of the opinion denouncing these schools to the ambassadors instead of supporting them is equal to treason,” said Durak.
Malaysia also to blame for Turk’s torture, say rights groups
Human rights NGOs have called on Malaysian authorities to accept responsibility for the alleged torture of a Turkish teacher in his native country after he was deported from Malaysia.
Who speaks for Islam in Turkey?
Huseyin Gulerce voiced deep concern about Erdogan’s criticism of Fethullah Gulen “as a fake prophet” at a meeting of the Religious Affairs Directorate. Gulerce asked, “Would not the stability of the country be harmed if the mosques are polarized as such?” He concluded that politics have dominated religion.
34,000 teachers, 5,882 academics, 1,372 university employees dismissed since July 15, 2016
A total of 34,000 teachers have been dismissed along with 5,882 academics and 1,372 administrative personnel at universities as part of the Turkish government’s post-coup crackdown, a recent report said.
Turkey sees unprecedented pressure on media since Dec. 14 operation
Monday marks the first anniversary of a government-backed operation against prominent media groups in the country that resulted in the detention of dozens of individuals, mostly high ranked media personnel, and ever since that day pressure on critical journalists and news outlets has skyrocketed in the country, leading to the take-over and even closure of many media outlets and the incarceration of many journalists.
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