
Phnom Penh’s Turkish-run Zaman International School and its affiliated university have come under fire in the wake of a thwarted coup attempt in Turkey on Friday night, with Turkish authorities now hunting down supporters of Mr. Gulen around the world.

Turkey’s crackdown of those suspected in the failed July 15 military coup widens, with the firing of 492 people at its top Islamic authority. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is zeroing in on a Muslim cleric living in rural Pennsylvania, whom he accuses of masterminding the coup attempt.

Asked whether Turkish allegations that cleric Fethullah Gulen planned the attempted coup passed the “smell test” of credibility, National Intelligence Director James Clapper answered: “No. Not to me.” He said that Secretary John Kerry “was right on the ball” to press the Turks to back up their extradition request with evidence of Gulen’s involvement.

Somaliland administration in northwestern Somalia has refused to follow in the footsteps of the federal government that suspended a school with links to reclusive Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen following a failed coup attempt in Turkey, Garowe Online reports.

Unfortunately, the botched coup is likely to act like the infamous Reichstag fire under the Nazis and accelerate the Erdogan government’s race to the dictatorial bottom. He is likely to become more vindictive and paranoid—because he does have enemies everywhere. Never mind that he bears responsibility for the authoritarian policies and corrupt practices which have energized his most fervent opponents.

“The Hizmet movement has nothing to hide,” Alexander said. “We’re hoping people can learn more about it. Since Gulen is being accused of this, there will be greater scrutiny of the Hizmet movement, and we invite that scrutiny.”

At such a time, one would hope for a leader willing and eager to unify his people under the rule of law, to reaffirm democratic values and to address the grievances that motivated the plotters in the first place. So far, Mr. Erdogan seems determined to fail this test of leadership.

United States (US) Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, released a statement on Monday, saying that the US should turn down the Turkish president’s demand of the extradition of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen as he could not be part of a coup attempt, calling his movement “strongest element in his society opposing radical Islamist terrorism.”

I rise to remind our government that the human rights abuses committed by Turkish President Erdogan are grave and ongoing, and to distinguish between the Turkish president and the Turkish people–and to stand with the people.

The Pennsylvania-based cleric is a leading reformer of moderate Islam — either that, or the head of a dangerous terrorist organization. DAVID KENNER The dueling descriptions of Fethullah Gulen often seem to describe two completely different men. To his supporters, the Pennsylvania-based imam is a progressive, tolerant Islamic thinker, who presides over a grassroots organization […]

That’s the claim of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is demanding that the United States extradite Fethullah Gulen, a 77-year-old Turkish cleric living on a 26-acre retreat in Saylorsburg, whom he blames for orchestrating the failed coup.