Keyword: Turkey
Statement on Journalists Arrests
The raids on Turkey’s top selling newspaper Zaman and prominent TV organization STV are profoundly disturbing to all of us who value democracy, tolerance and the role of a free press in safeguarding both. Journalists who report about the suppression of human rights are not enemies of the state; rather they are documenting the actions of those who undermine the safeguards of a democratic Turkey.
Turkish police raid Zaman building, attempt to detain editor
The police reportedly came to detain Zaman daily editor-in-chief Ekrem Dumanlı. The officials said they could not “fulfill their tasks” because of the pressure and had to leave the building. Protesters chanted unceasing slogans such as “Free Media Cannot be Silenced.”
It’s not about a conflict between the government and Hizmet movement
Insanity ripples through the country, the media and the people. If graft or corruption is the prevailing form of life spreading from the state to society, and if this form of life is supported by people, then we are hitting the bottom day by day. A prosecutor can say “We can detain 500 thousand people if necessary” and still hold his post as if he said quite an ordinary thing. Whereas in Europe mental health of such a prosecutor would be called into question and most probably examined.
Islamic scholar Gülen calls for calm among supporters
Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has called on his supporters to remain calm and be patient in the wake of rumors that Istanbul police were planning to start an operation to round up hundreds of people close to his movement. Gülen called for patience and calm among the relatives of those who are being probed or expecting probes against them, advising them to pray and read the Quran.
Turkish PM Davutoglu baselessly claims Hizmet works with PKK
The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) strongly criticized and denied recent remarks from Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who alleged that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the so-called parallel structure are “working together,” saying the allegation is baseless slander directed at the [Hizmet] movement.
Separate state and religion
Turkey needs to face the fact that experience gained over the course of almost a century has shown that the marriage of state and religion is detrimental to both. If Turkey is to ever consolidate a liberal and pluralist kind of democracy, state and religion need to be separated, and freedom for believers and nonbelievers alike has to be secured.
President Erdoğan envies the Hizmet according to prominent columnist
Subsequent to the corruption probe the AK Party had denied the charges, blaming the Hizmet movement accusing it of orchestrating the probe. “This is when the antagonizing rhetoric started,” according to Alkan. President Erdoğan has in fact openly vowed to bring down the movement and anyone it perceives as being affiliated with it.
