Dutch Education Minister Jet Bussemaker announced that there is a parliamentary debate over the Islamic University of Rotterdam for cancellation of the “university status” of the institution due to Rector Ahmet Akgündüz’s repeatedly hateful and discriminatory remarks against Turkey’s minorities and the Gülen movement.
None of this has stopped the government from undertaking a huge, self-destructive purge, with around 10,000 people arrested, 100,000 people dismissed, and the seizure of assets of more than $4 billion, numbers that worry not just human rights activists but foreign investors as well. The government’s fury is understandable but it should distinguish between those who took part in the coup and those who simply belonged to the Gulen movement.
Judges in Haarlem have banned four mothers from calling an Islamic primary school in Zaanstad a ‘terrorist’ school. People who press ahead with saying the school supports terrorism face a fine of €1,000 with a maximum of €10,000.
Germany, dependent on Turkey to hold back the migrant flow to Europe, has been muted in its response. The United States, under pressure to push Mr Gulen out of his exile, has also tried to soothe nerves in Ankara. Britain should not be so amenable. This campaign should not be allowed to infiltrate the streets of Britain.
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.
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.
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.
Dutch police on Monday detained a 42-year-old Dutchman of Turkish descent for alleged death threats and hate speech after the failed Turkish coup in July, which has ratcheted up tension among Turks in the Netherlands. The arrested man is an Erdogan supporter and he is suspected of having threatened Gulen backers online and in person, a Dutch official said on condition of anonymity.
Only days after Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Foreign Minister Bert Koenders’ frantic diplomatic efforts to limit Turkish interference in Dutch society, the Turkish state news agency published a new so-called “Gulen list” on Tuesday. The list contains names of organizations in the Netherlands allegedly affiliated with Fethullah Gulen, which are to be boycotted because they are considered enemies of the Turkish State. Politicians in the Netherlands are furious.
Lists are circulating in Amsterdam containing the names of Turkish students in Amsterdam schools, with details on who supports Fethullah Gulen and Who Supports Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan. About 150 primary school students did not show up for school this week due to “intimidation and bullying” related to tensions in the Turkish community. The municipality deployed extra education inspectors to visit parents who are keeping their children home from school.
Police in Germany are investigating whether calls to boycott shops owned by supporters of the self-exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen constitute hate crimes. There are currently 15 open investigations. Police in the southern German city of Stuttgart said Wednesday they were investigating calls to avoid patronizing Gülen-friendly stores, shops and restaurants as potential hate crimes.
Turks who live in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Switzerland and have links to the co-called Gulenist movement say they are frightened amid Turkey’s crackdown on Gulen’s followers, according to media reports. MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Some Turkish people living in Europe who have links to supporters of Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of masterminding the July 15 thwarted coup, have […]
Right-wing Reformist Bloc, the junior partner in Bulgaria’s minority coalition cabinet, has demanded that Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova explain to Parliament why the government turned over Turkish businessman Abdullah Buyuk to Turkey last week. “The Reformist Bloc expresses disagreement with the violation of basic principles that guide the coalition; for us these are the rule […]
Abdullah Buyuk was handed over to the Turkish authorities on August 10 after his political asylum request was denied. Two Bulgarian courts had blocked his deportation in March, saying that he was wanted for “political reasons” in Turkey, and that he could not be guaranteed a fair trial.