News
Celebrating Ramadan with Turkish asylum seekers
Haldun and his wife, Funda, fled Turkey about two years ago with their three daughters and are now seeking political asylum in the United States because if they go back to Turkey they face arrest and likely torture. Once a successful manufacturer of washing machine products, Haldun, Funda and their children are now a family without a country; their factory turned over to a government trustee, their passports taken away, and their property and belongings nationalized.
Local NGOs urge Georgian gov’t to avoid returning Turkish teacher back home
Eight non-governmental organizations have called on the Georgian government to refrain from returning detained Turkish teacher to back home where “he will be possibly subjected to political persecution, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. “[He] will have no access to fair trial,” said a statement, released on May 31.
Arrest of Kanter’s father underscores deepening tensions between U.S., Turkey
Turkey’s ability to stop Kanter from living in the U.S. or playing in the NBA is basically non-existent. The U.S. won’t allow Turkey to extradite him. But Erdoğan’s government has an ulterior motive in attempting to intimidate Kanter. “The point of this exercise is to let Turks around the world know that none of them are safe, that they should not speak out against the government,” Joshua Landis said.
Erdogan’s Maarif Foundation To Contribute Radicalism, Exacerbate Muslim-Christian Tension In African Countries
Turkey’s President Erdoğan has aimed at replacing the positive contributions of the schools opened by the Gülen movement in Africa to preventing clashes in countries, where there is Christian-Muslim tension, with radical Islamist rhetoric and thus will create conflict rather than dialogue in African countries, stated a report recently released.
PACE concerned over lack of domestic remedy for purge victims in Turkey
Two rapporteurs for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Wednesday expressed concern at the apparent lack of an effective domestic remedy for persons who have been dismissed from their jobs, arrested or detained by the Turkish authorities.
Despite father’s arrest, Kanter refuses to be silenced
“I play in the NBA; that’s why people know my story,” Kanter said. “My dad is only one. There are thousands of kids out there who have no mom or dad because of what’s going on in Turkey. I have to speak and let people know what’s going on. I want the whole world to know what’s going on, because they try to hid it.”
Turkey’s Ankara Mayor Gökçek Hints ‘Genocide’ For Followers Of Gülen Movement
Melih Gökçek, the mayor of Turkey’s capital city Ankara, has hinted a kind of “genocide” for alleged members of faith-based Gülen movement in an interview. He said that “Completely annihilating Gülen movement in Turkey will take our 10 year. In order to finish them completely we need to transform whole generation.
Turkish police detain another woman shortly after caesarean delivery
A Turkish women, Nazlı N. Mert, who has just given birth to a baby in Ankara, was detained by police teams and transferred to police station with her newly-born baby on Saturday as part of post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement.
Police detain Bursa woman on coup charges a day after giving birth
Elif Aslaner, a religious education teacher who gave birth on Wednesday at a private hospital in Bursa, was detained due to her alleged links to Turkey’s Gülen group on Friday. Aslaner’s husband said his wife had preeclampsia and suffered from convulsions when she gave birth to her first baby and remained in a coma for two days.
UN demands access to 3 Turks forcibly returned from Malaysia
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has urged Turkey to confirm the whereabouts of three Turkish nationals who were detained in Malaysia at Ankara’s request due to their ties to the faith-based Gülen movement, a statement by the Brussels-based Intercultural Dialogue Platform said.
