News
In Berlin, inside a Gulen “light-house”
In recent years, the movement has received more scrutiny, not least after its long-time alley, Turkish President Erdogan, publicly split with the group, accusing it of infiltrating state institutions and even outright “terrorism”. Germany’s intelligence services disagree: In 2014, they published an assessment outlining that while some elements within the movement gave room for concern, they didn’t warrant an observation of the movement.
Turkey’s latest bombing will help its president amass more power
Mr Erdogan likes to cast himself as a cure for the chaos spreading across Turkey. Yet he is also one of its causes. Courting the nationalist vote, Mr Erdogan has ruled out peace talks with the PKK. Responding to PKK attacks against security targets in 2015, he inflamed the conflict by arresting Kurdish politicians, pulverising towns in the southeast, and displacing some 500,000 people.
Written Evidence to UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Hizmet
The Alliance for Shared Values of the US & The Dialogue Platform of the UK have prepared a report on “UK’s relations with Turkey” that focuses on the Hizmet Movement. The report may be downloaded, disseminated for free and even printed. Representatives from these organizations were personally invited to submit written evidence by the Committee to explain Hizmet and provide Hizmet’s response to the AKP government’s allegations against Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement.
Erdogan blackmails President-Elect Trump
“Turkey desperately wants the U.S. government to extradite an imam [Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen],” Maddow explained. “They [the U.S.] have said that they are not extraditing him. But if that’s what you wanted, what if you could squeeze the personal financial interests of the American president as a way to get what you want from the American government?”
Pakistan – Staff expelled from Turkish-backed schools on Erdogan’s demand
Amnesty South Asia Director Champa Patel: “With 24 million Pakistani children out of school, Pakistan’s decision to expel teachers from the Pak-Turk International Schools and Colleges will only hurt Pakistan’s children. What the country needs is more classrooms and more teachers, not a politically-motivated decision to purge educators at the behest of the Turkish government.”
Woman miscarries twins after arrest, struggles for her life in prison
In yet another example of human tragedies proliferated in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt, a Sinop woman lost her twins in jail after she was arrested due to the ByLock mobile application that she says has never downloaded.
German Lawmakers Call for Probe on Imams Suspected of Spying for Turkey
German lawmakers have called for an investigation of Turkish intelligence operations in their country, specifically charging that Turkey is spying on suspected followers of exiled cleric and accused coup mastermind Fethullah Gulen.
Journalists seek asylum in Canada amid Turkish crackdown
Duncan Pike of the Toronto-based Canadian Journalists for Free Expression said the decline of press freedom in Turkey has been a growing concern as the Tayyip Erdogan regime continues to use the coup as a pretext to crack down on opposition critical of his government. “Reporters are stripped of press credentials. Publishing houses are closed down. Authors, journalists, teachers and academics are detained and investigated,” said Pike.
Erdogan’s Muslim spies: Turkish imams snooping on Merkel’s Germany for President
According to German media, the spies write reports on the alleged Gulen supporters and the secretive information is collected from imams of the Turkish-Islamic Union of the Institute for Religion (Ditib). The names of the so-called spies are then reported to the relevant [Turkish] state bodies and consulates.
Pakistan plans to expel Turkish teachers linked to opposition at home
Mohammed Aqeel, 24, who attended the Peshawar school and now teaches there, called the visa cancellations “a shameful event” that had compromised Pakistan’s independence and damaged its educational standards. “There is no foreign ideology here,” he said. “I love this school. It grooms us to be good human beings as well as students.”
WikiLeaks Emails Show Turkey Tried To Hide Corruption Evidence
Hacked emails show a race to discredit an audio recording of Turkey’s then PM Erdogan telling his son, Bilal Erdogan, how to avoid charges. These emails show that Turkey’s ruling party knowingly misled the public about previously leaked audio in which the country’s leader tells his son how to avoid corruption charges.
