Animation – Story of Turkish teacher Gokhan Acikkollu, tortured to death under police custody
Date posted: May 29, 2018
Gökhan Açıkkollu, a history teacher suffering from diabetes, died of torture in police custody as part of a post-coup investigation into Turkey’s Gülen group.
Gokhan Acikkolu was a teacher of history. As many people, he was detained on charge of being Gulen Fallower on July 23,2016. He died under police custody. He died without even knowing what he was accused of.
Fell sick over diabetes and harsh treatment the teacher was taken to a hospital. Doctors declared him well and sent him back to custody. Several days later, badly wounded and seriously ill teacher died under custody.
Gulen, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, promotes a philosophy that comprises elements of moderate Islam and Sufi mysticism, free-market economics, and interfaith tolerance. That he has a wide following in Turkey (and elsewhere) is not in doubt. As for Erdogan, he can be an Islamist sultan or he can be the democratic leader of a trusted NATO ally. But he can’t be both, and the time has come to make him choose.
Handcuffed justice
The ruling party has been undermining rule of law since the graft and bribery investigation that became public on December 17, 2013. It sees itself unfettered by laws and the Constitution. It has been sticking to the hoax of “parallel structure” –a veiled reference to members of the Hizmet movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen– in a desperate attempt to cover up the graft investigations.
Opposition asks for parliamentary session on MİT wiretapping
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen will file a criminal complaint against those responsible for the illegal wiretapping of his phone conversations, Gülen’s lawyer Nurullah Albayrak said in a written statement on Tuesday.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) İstanbul deputy Ferit Mevlüt Aslanoğlu called for a parliamentary session to inform the deputies about the technical details of wiretapping.
Hizmet Movement is not interested in attaining political power in Turkey or elsewhere in the world
[Erdogan] has called Hizmet a state within a state, which to me is a strange characterization. To me, that’s like saying that the Catholics are a state within a state in America, or the Jews, a state within a state in America. Those kinds of statements are derogatory, they’re pejoratives. Catholics have a right to seek influence in America; Jews have a right to seek influence in America, that’s how we operate here.
Separation politics and Islam makes Gülen AKP’s enemy
“The Gülen Movement is faith inspired in its motivation, but faith neutral in its manifestation.” That is how key speaker Ozcan Keles, chairperson of Dialogue Society in London, characterized the Gülen Movement in a panel discussion on the Hizmet Movement Tuesday in the European Parliament.
Police officers carrying Kalashnikov rifles conducted a raid at a girls’ school dormitory in eastern Van province on Sunday, a move that is seen as part of an ongoing government-orchestrated operation targeting the faith-based Gülen movement, popularly known as the Hizmet movement.
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Foreword to “The Gulen Movement: Civic Service without Borders”