An indictment prepared by an İstanbul prosecutor seeks three consecutive life sentences for 30 individuals who include journalists and executives from the now-closed Zaman daily on coup charges. The daily, which was affiliated with the Gülen movement, was first seized by the Turkish government in March 2016 and the closed down in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
Kadir Eyce, a 33-year-old police officer who was jailed due to alleged links to the Gülen movement, has died several weeks after he was released from prison due to health problems. According to photos and tweets posted by family members on Twitter, Eyce had been denied food and water in jail, thereby losing 45 kilograms in three months.
Only a day after an Ankara man was reportedly abducted, a philosophy teacher went missing on Apr 1, according to his wife. The 41-year-old lecturer, Onder Asan mysteriously disappeared on Apr 1, his wife Fatma Asan cried out on Twitter.
A recently established Twitter account claims in a series of tweets that Turgut Çapan was abducted in Turkey’s capital of Ankara. While the reason for the alleged abduction is yet to be known, earlier tips submitted to Turkey Purge as well as a number of other media articles reported on several mysterious incidents of abduction involving Gülen followers.
Salih Arslan, a member of the board of the Ankara-funded Süleymaniye mosque in the Australian city of Perth, was revealed to have incited worshippers to spy on followers of the Gülen movement and affiliated institutions, including schools.
An Istanbul court ruled that the state-run Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) takes over the administration of Hasan Gultekin Gaziantep Baklavacisi, an 8-store baklava chain. The decision was made as part of an investigation into the Gulen movement. Turkish government has already taken over more than 800 companies either by confiscating or seizing them.
The Erdogan government jails its citizens without due process, severely curtails freedom of speech by jailing journalists, and ignores the plight of vulnerable minorities. They are the least credible messengers to warn Americans about their civic duty. The Turkish Consulate’s attempt to use McCarthyite tactics to spread fear and unduly influence American civic life is simply abhorrent and deserves condemnation.
Members of the Gulen religious movement insist they are innocent of plotting against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, but he has chased them into the shadows, and they fear for their lives and livelihoods. At the same time, Mr. Erdogan has increasingly made himself the face of Turkey’s state, and now he is seeking more authority to rule.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been waging a relentless war against followers of the faith-based Gülen movement in Turkey for the past several years, has said Gülen movement sympathizers in the country will not enjoy the right to life.
The main Turkish opposition party has accused the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of having prior knowledge of the failed July 15, 2016 putsch, saying Ankara carried out a “controlled” coup in an attempt to exploit its outcomes.