Erdoğan calls for expanded witch hunt against Gülen followers


Date posted: June 26, 2017

Having purged more than 150,000 people from state jobs and jailed over 50,000 due to alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday called on people to inform on activities of Gülen followers, saying that if they fail to do so, they will be held responsible.

“Wherever you know of or find a member of FETÖ [a derogatory term coined by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and Erdoğan to refer to members of the Gülen movement] you will report them to us. If you do not inform us, you will held be responsible,” said Erdoğan during an event organized by the İstanbul branch of his AKP to mark Eid al-Fitr.

“We will hold those who divide the Ummah to account,” he added.

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 AKP government along with President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police officers and civil servants since July 15.

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.

The AKP government has seized a total of 942 companies with a total value of TL 40.5 billion since the failed coup attempt, according to a statement from Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli.

The total equity capital of the seized companies is TL18.1 billion, while their combined turnover is TL 21.5 billion, according to a Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) report.

Together the seized companies employ a workforce of 44,868.

Source: Turkish Minute , June 26, 2017

Tags: | | |


Related News

Mosque-cemevi project halted due to government’s ‘parallel paranoia’

Turkey’s first-ever complex housing both a mosque and a cemevi, an Alevi house of worship, has become the latest victim in the battle launched by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government against the Gülen movement after the Mamak Municipality refused to grant a certificate of occupancy to the complex on the grounds that it was built with “parallel funds.”

Retired on disability, former bomb disposal expert kept in jail for a month over Gülen links

Bilal Konakçı, a former bomb disposal expert for the İzmir Police Department who was retired after he lost his right hand and both eyes while trying to dispose of a bomb in 2009, was detained on Dec. 20 over links to the faith-based Gülen movement, and his wife is worried about his health as authorities refuse to allow the family to contact him.

PM Erdoğan: Internet bill protesters are defenders of immorality

Media outlets ran stories based on leaked voice recordings and the documents of a second probe, which has been stalled since Dec. 25, 2014, when the government started removing or reassigning thousands of police officers and police chiefs as well as the prosecutors carrying out the investigation. The press has since reported that the depths of corruption within the government is actually a lot bigger than initially assumed.

India must understand Erdogan’s ideological motives for seeking extradition of Gülenists

Since its inception in India, Hizmet is known for its peace activism, interfaith dialogue and counter-extremism. Operating in the country through interfaith dialogue centres, educational institutions and cultural associations, it is articulating an evolving narrative of peace, pluralism and non-violence based on the spiritual ideas and principles of Gülen’s progressive and dialogic narrative of Sufism, as this research paper also elaborates.

AKP official: Torture claims won’t be investigated if victims are Gülenists

A Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy has said there will be no investigations into claims of torture and mistreatment of people put into prison after a July 15 coup attempt if those victims are sympathizers of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

After 50 days, Turkish university director out of Malaysian jail with UN refugee card

A visiting Turkish university director who had yet to be convicted of any crime was finally released from the Sungai Buloh Prison after being conferred refugee status, which has been conferred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The UNHCR identification supersedes the cancellation of his visa.

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

A Turkish coup, a family torn apart, a dramatic escape on foot: ‘Can you believe the things we went through?’

Professor: Carrying out service, Hizmet seeks peaceful coexistence; accusations are manipulative and absurd

Mothers, fathers crying and praying due to extensive victimization

Local Muslims share Ramadan meal with each other and the community

Critics locked up at home as President Erdogan arrives in India

Turkish investors To Inject Capital Into Ghana’s Economy

Erdoğan’s overarching purge is not a road accident

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News