Many countries that are home to Turkish schools have been holding language and culture festivals this month to select the students who will compete in the 12th Turkish Olympiads in June, with one such event recently being held in the US state of Virginia.
Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has inspired the popular civic and social movement called Hizmet, has said he is concerned with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government’s moves seen over the last couple of years to cut back on fundamental rights and freedoms in Turkey.
Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has inspired a worldwide network active in education, charity and outreach, has described large-scale slander, pressure and oppression his Hizmet movement currently faces as worse than that seen during anti-democratic military coup regimes witnessed by Turkey.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he had complained to President Barack Obama about Fethullah Gulen in phone conversation. Erdogan added that Obama had responded favorably. The White House retorted in unusual language, telling journalists: “The response attributed to President Obama is not accurate.”
In an unusual statement, the White House has accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of misrepresenting the content of his phone conversation with US President Barack Obama on Feb. 19 regarding the extradition of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who lives in Pennsylvania.
White House has reportedly denied remarks attributed to US President Barack Obama about Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, describing them as “not accurate.” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday during a live TV interview that Obama received “the message” about his complaint of Gülen residing in the US.
Ambassador Ricciardone, who can understand Turkish very well, cannot believe his eyes after reading the text about what Prime Minister Erdoğan had said during an ATV network interview about his conversation with Obama on Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
The government took new measures to prevent the graft probe from proceeding, in an attempt to create the public perception that the corruption allegations are the making of the Hizmet movement and its alleged foreign collaborators. For instance, a new measure introduced by the government to tighten control over the Internet, including powers allowing the authorities to block websites for privacy violations without a court decision, is part of a campaign to prevent news related to the corruption scandal from being disseminated further through the Internet.