Keyword: Democracy
Gülen to file lawsuit against PM Erdoğan over defamation campaign
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen plans to file a lawsuit against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for an endless smear campaign and slander, accusing Erdoğan of pursuing a concerted effort to foment animosity and hatred in society through the use of hate speech in rallies, meetings and TV interviews, Gülen’s lawyer said late on Friday.
THY’s Topçu defends embargo on papers, defamation campaign
Turkish Airlines (THY) Chairman Hamdi Topçu has confirmed an embargo on the distribution of dailies Bugün, Taraf, Zaman and Today’s Zaman on THY flights and has admitted having withdrawn a huge amount of cash from Bank Asya in an alleged attempt to force the bank out of business.
Erdoğan gov’t threatened to ‘wipe TUSKON off market map,’ says chairman
One of Turkey’s most influential business confederations, the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), was threatened with being “wiped off the market” by the government after TUSKON made critical statements about government policies, chairman Rızanur Meral told the media on Friday.
Candidates on ‘red list’ denied jobs despite high test scores, Taraf reports
It was discovered that a lot of people who ranked in the top 100 were negatively labeled [put on the red list] because they are Alevis [some consider Alevism an unorthodox sect of Islam], Kurds or members of Hizmet,” the Taraf daily said.
PM Erdoğan increases intensity of hate speech against Hizmet movement
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has increased the intensity of his hate speech against the Hizmet movement, which is inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, calling on people not to attend the movement’s schools or exam preparatory courses and not to buy newspapers close to the movement.
Anti-democratic practices after graft probe reminiscent of Feb. 28 era
A number of anti-democratic moves that began after the launch of the corruption probe, including the reassignment of thousands of civil servants, including police officers and members of the judiciary, as well as discrimination against members of the faith-based Hizmet movement, are similar to the events of the Feb. 28 period.
Lawyer files criminal complaint against Gülen
An İstanbul-based lawyer filed a criminal complaint on Wednesday against Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, with allegations such as the establishment of a criminal organization, organizing an attempt to overthrow the government, organized fraud and abuse of duty as a civil servant.
Lynching of the Hizmet movement by the hand of the state
The community [the Hizmet movement] is being lynched, and the state is using its power to do it. The same tactic has been used in the claims of mass wiretapping. The prosecutors involved in the investigation have denied the claims, but the black propaganda campaign has been going on for two days.
Countdown for operation against Hizmet Movement
Even though the government has already removed from duty thousands of people, including police officers and members of the judiciary, it would have difficulties persuading “civil servants” to launch an operation against the community [Hizmet movement].
Turkish finance minister declines to comment on ‘color lists’
Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek on Tuesday declined to comment on a question about claims that the government recruits public sector employees using “color lists” to avoid people affiliated with groups such as the Hizmet movement and critics of the government.
