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

Turkish journalist at daily Bugün is threatened

A journalist at the Ankara branch of the daily Bugün has claimed that he received a threatening phone call which he describes as “insulting and discomforting.” The threat follows recent similar claims by Cüneyt Özdemir, a writer at the newspaper Radikal and anchor of the 5N 1K program broadcast by the CNN Türk TV station.

TUSKON summit highlights Turkish ‘FTA initiative’

Turkey is preparing to kick start negotiations to ink free trade agreements (FTAs) with a dozen countries, including Japan and Canada, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan told a global trade and investment summit held in İstanbul. The Turkey-World Trade Bridge summit, a seven-year-old event on its way to becoming an internationally recognized summit, opened its doors […]

Turkish IT Technician Found Dead While Fleeing To Greece

The body of a Turkish IT specialist, who was fleeing Turkish crackdown, was recovered from a river that divides Turkish-Greek territory. Mr. Zumre is not the only one who tried to cross the Meric river into Greece. Hundreds of professors, journalists, and sacked public employees crossed the river to reach Greece. Many of them are living in Greek refugee camps.

Ahmet Şık’s book and Ergenekon’s media campaign (2)

At that time, I knew only a few journalists who claimed Şık’s arrest was not because of his book but because of inconsistencies in the story he had told the judge. He claimed not to know any such people, but there was evidence he may have known and had relationships with Ergenekon suspects. Emre Uslu, […]

Swiss investigate spying on Turkish community

The Swiss foreign minister told his Turkish counterpart on Thursday that Switzerland would “rigorously investigate” any illegal spying by Ankara on expatriate Turks before an April 16 referendum that could expand Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.

Conspiratorial minds, authoritarian politics

The conspiracy theories that were once the propaganda tools of the enemies of the AKP and have now become the propaganda tools of the AKP itself.

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

ABA urges Obama to protest Turkey’s suppression of free speech

Turkish Cleric, Accused in Coup Plot, Calls Crackdown ‘Dark Pages’ in History

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

Turkish court jails 17 housewives over alleged coup involvement

Bad news for Erdoğan’s lawyers in the US

Filling the gap left by Gulen

Dr. Reuven Firestone Interviewed by Muslim Turkish Movement “Hizmet”

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News