The power struggle between the Turkish state and the Fethullah Gulen-led Hizmet Movement continues to reverberate in Turkey. The number detained, arrested, jailed, and dismissed from their jobs since the July 15 coup attempt has reached well over 100,000, 40,000 of whom have been detained on suspicion of having links with Hizmet. One third of the highest-ranking armed forces officers have been dismissed. Almost every major institution—military, judiciary, media, education, business—has been affected.
In a 43-page report published on Tuesday, the human rights group said a “climate of fear” had prevailed since July’s failed coup against President Tayyip Recep Erdogan and the arrest of thousands under a state of emergency.
Nearly three dozen Turkish diplomats and family members have claimed asylum in Germany over alleged affiliation to the network of US-based opposition leader Fethullah Gulen, whom the government in Ankara claims to have masterminded the failed July 15 coup attempt.
A letter sent Turkey Purge has received from the elder brother –known by the initials A.D.– of an arrested school teacher reveals that those detained within past few years as part of the witch-hunt have been subjected to many kinds of ill-treatment under custody.
The companies are alleged to be connected to the Gülen movement, a civic initiative based in Turkey, with the government coining the term “FETÖ” to designate the movement a terrorist organization despite the lack of any court verdict to that effect. A court last week in fact ruled out the existence of such an organization named “FETÖ.”
The government is yet to renovate that place, preserving the area for foreign delegations as a showcase for the savagery of putschist soldiers. Ankara makes sure that every visiting foreign official is making their pilgrimage to the site, through dust and scattered rocks, so that they see firsthand how the mutineering soldiers attacked the Turkish democracy.
In the latest of an ever-growing demonization of Fethullah Gülen at the hands of Turkish government, police are set to deliberately put his books in ISIL cells in a bid to reveal an alleged connection between the cleric and the terrorist organization, according to a Turkish journalist.