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Turkey: Effort to Force Closure of Gülen Schools Falling Flat in Eurasia
The situation in Georgia illustrates the challenge for Turkish diplomats. A few days after the July 15 coup attempt, a translation of a TV interview began circulating that featured Yasin Temizkan, Turkey’s consul in the city of Batumi. In the interview, Temizkan urged the Georgian government to close the local Refaiddin Şahin Friendship School, a private institution considered part of the Gülen network. The justification, Temizkan said, was that the school was “serving terrorist groups.”
‘We won’t stop the witch-hunt’ AKP parliamentary group deputy chair says
Speaking to reporters in Parliament on Saturday, AKP deputy Bulent Turan was responding to criticism from opposition parties accusing the AKP government of enforcing decrees during the ongoing state of emergency merely to silence dissident voices. “We won’t stop hunting [dissidents] merely because of criticism that there is witch-hunt [against dissidents],” Turan said.
US, Gülen to trigger artificial earthquake(!) in İstanbul, Ankara mayor says
Ankara’s mayor Melih Gökçek claimed in series of tweets from his personal account on Saturday that external powers, including the US, is planning to trigger a artificial eartquake in İstanbul along theGülen Movement. “I had said FETO and US expects an earthquake in İstanbul in August 14 similar to the Gölcük eartquake in 1999. I ruined their plan after revealing in TVs. But the propoganda continues. The plan was to trigger an earthquake in İstanbul to destroy Turkey’s economy as US promised to FETO,” Gökçek wrote.
Man gets prison sentence, fine after attack on Gülen-linked institutions in France
A 28-year-old man of Turkish origin has been handed down a prison sentence of eight months and a fine of 23,000 euros by a French court after he attacked several institutions affiliated with the faith-based Gülen movement in the country. M.Y. admitted to have taken part in six other attacks against Gülen-affiliated education and culture centers in France.
Ambassador says US having difficulty in seeing clear criterion in anti-Gülen operations
Speaking to a group of reporters in Istanbul on Friday, Bass said although the Turkish government insists that the anti-coup measures it has taken against followers of the Gülen movement are proportionate, it is difficult see that the Turkish government is taking its actions based on a clear criterion. Bass said the US was having difficulty in assessing whether the measures are proportionate and reasonable.
Under Erdogan oppression, autocracy rules in Turkey
A day after Turkey’s notoriously repressive regime led by an autocrat president issued sweeping arrest warrants for 42 journalists on July 25 on all sorts of trumped-up charges, I decided that the time had come for me to pack up and move out of the country.
Why Erdogan Snubbed Biden
What is going on in Turkey right now reminds me very much of the last few scenes in the first Godfather movie, where Michael Corleone is settling all of the Family’s outstanding business. Corleone is seen in church renouncing “Satan and all his works” while he participates in the baptism of his nephew—shortly before garroting the baby’s father, Carl.
Turkey may be challenged in ECtHR due to massive crackdown, CoE head warns
Turkey must avoid targeting individuals simply because they worked for firms affiliated with the Gulen Movement, otherwise it may be challenged in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the Council of Europe (CoE) Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland urged.
Gülen says paying price for not supporting Erdoğan’s desire for presidential system
“Mr Erdoğan put pressure on me and Hizmet sympathizers to publicly support his idea of a presidential system. He increased the pressure by supporting government-funded alternatives to Hizmet institutions and then began threatening to close them down,” Gülen stated in a written interview with Nahal Toosi, which was published on Friday. According to Gülen, Hizmet sympathizers are paying a heavy price for their independence.
Turkish newspaper ‘Zaman’ shuts down in Germany amid ‘threats’
The Turkish-language newspaper “Zaman” will stop operations in Germany after “threats” to readers, a staff member has said. The Turkish government took over the paper in Turkey itself in March. “Our subscribers are being visited; they are being threatened that if they continue to subscribe, they will have problems,” Bag said. He added that the current situation in Turkey, where the government is carrying out a wide-ranging media purge, was spilling over into Germany.
Turkey removes evidence of torture, maltreatment in prisons ahead of ‘Committee for the Prevention of Torture’ visit
The National Police Department warned all its personnel to obey international rules of detention and to stop using unofficial detention centers days before a delegation from the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) was to pay a visit to Turkey in order to ascertain if people in custody are subject to any maltreatment, according to an anonymous tip received by Turkey Purge.
Dutch police detain second Turkish man for threatening Erdoğan critics
Dutch police on Wednesday detained a second Turkish man, a supporter of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on suspicion of death threats and hate speech made against Erdoğan critics in the Netherlands. Rotterdam police detained a 43-year-old Dutchman of Turkish descent who is suspected of having threatened critics of the Turkish president and backers of US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Council of Europe: Turkey must separate coup plotters from Gülen employees
“We are stressing to the Turks that they have to present clear evidence, be able to separate those who were clearly behind the coup and those who have been in some way or another connected to or working for this so-called Gülen network,” Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, told Reuters.
