
In September 2014, in an address to the Turkish Industry and Business Association, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the following statement: “No effort is underway to cause the bankruptcy of a bank. That bank is already bankrupt. They are carrying water by hand to keep it afloat.”

“The raid on Bank Asya is a violation of the right of proprietorship and a murders the entrepreneurial spirit,” noted the president of the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON), Rızanur Meral, in an interview with Bugün TV.

Terry Spencer Hesser, director of the first feature-length movie about Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement, a grassroots initiative inspired by the Islamic scholar, spoke to Sunday’s Zaman at the Strasbourg screening of the biopic titled “Love Is a Verb,”

The movement that started out a quarter-century ago to support education for children abroad starting with the autonomous Azerbaijani republic of Nakhchivan has now reached 160 foreign countries, with the founders of the movement and its volunteers welcomed with open arms around the world.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has presented a distorted interpretation of an op-ed written by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen that was published in The New York Times, claiming the op-ed is about the takeover of the board of Islamic lender Bank Asya by Turkey’s banking watchdog.

Organized by the Peace Islands Institute (PII), “Young Peace Ambassadors Academy” is a new initiative: a 6-week intensive leadership-training project that combines mentorship, workshops, interactive discussions, keynote speakers and field trips on Saturdays 10am – 3pm from April 11 to May 16, 2015. Students will learn about the United Nations and the global problems such […]

Humanitarian aid group Kimse Yok Mu has become the first Turkish NGO to make it to the top tier of Swiss non-profit think tank Global Geneva’s annual top 500 NGOs list. With a wide range of activities in 113 countries around Africa, the Middle East, East Asia and South America, Kimse Yok Mu is a newcomer to the top 100 list thanks to its independence, transparency, innovative approach and effective and sustainable aid activities.

Bank Asya has become a battleground in the feud between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and self-exiled, U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, a preacher whom Erdogan blames for instigating a coup attempt against him and whose followers founded the lender. Supporters of each have sought, by turn, to strengthen and weaken the bank.

Erdoğan’s unceasing bid to bury the bank is largely driven by his declared witch-hunt against institutions affiliated with the Gülen movement. In the latest twist to a saga, a banking watchdog ordered the state insurance fund to take over the management of the bank.

A large number of members of the US Congress have voiced concerns on the recent arrest of media members in Turkey and called on Secretary of State John Kerry to press the Turkish government to secure press freedom in the country.