Keyword: Turkey
Turkish purges leave armed forces weak, dismissed officer warns
NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, General Curtis Scaparrotti, said in December that he never had any reason to suspect that Turkish officers in his teams would be involved in a coup attempt. In their absence, and without their expertise, the capacity of his staff had been “degraded,” he told the Financial Times and Deutsche Welle.
Prof. Tures: Erdogan’s policies threaten Turkey
Followers of this liberal U.S.-based cleric, Gulen, were scapegoated for the July 2016 coup. Tens of thousands of police officers and security officials were fired and even arrested, simply for being followers of Gulen, an opponent of ISIS. The Turkish President seems willing to blame everyone but ISIS, or even offer much of an anti-ISIS campaign.
Hizmet Movement is not interested in attaining political power in Turkey or elsewhere in the world
[Erdogan] has called Hizmet a state within a state, which to me is a strange characterization. To me, that’s like saying that the Catholics are a state within a state in America, or the Jews, a state within a state in America. Those kinds of statements are derogatory, they’re pejoratives. Catholics have a right to seek influence in America; Jews have a right to seek influence in America, that’s how we operate here.
Erdogan’s problem with his well-educated citizens
The government canceled the passports of all public servants purged with a decree and imposed travel restrictions on them and their spouses. Visiting scholars were ordered to return to Turkey. Academic freedom has been significantly restricted. In short, the entire educational system of Turkey has been crushed by the crackdown following the coup-attempt.
Mother of 5 children abandoned in parking lot released on high bail
A Turkish court on Monday released a housewife, a mother of five whose children were abandoned in a parking lot after her detention, on TL 50,000 bail. This is a high figure in a country where the minimum wage is approximately TL 1,300. The woman will be put behind bars again if she fails to pay the bail within seven days.
Turkey’s Erdogan and ISIS’ new breeding ground
Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan appears to be having a double dealings on taking the fight to ISIS. He has instead prefer a cosmetic approach in tackling the terrorist group. It is high time Erdogan purged himself of insincerity and religious rhetoric in the fight against ISIS and joined forces with other leaders to bring enduring peace to Turkey, the Middle-East and the various parts of the world.
HAPPENING NOW: Police await outside hospital to detain woman who just gave birth
A group of police officers awaited outside of the Alanya Başkent Hospital in order to detain a woman who gave birth several hours ago, according to a tweet by former deputy Feyzi İşbaşaran. Fadime Günay, whose husband has recently been detained by police over alleged links to the Gulen movement, gave birth to a boy late on Sunday.
Turkish PM: State of emergency will continue until Gülen movement completely wiped out
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said in Ankara on Thursday that the state of emergency which was declared following a failed coup attempt in July of last year will continue until the faith-based Gülen movement, which the government accuses of being behind the coup attempt, is completely wiped out from state institutions.
US under Trump still highly unlikely to extradite Gülen
National War College professor Taşpınar says extradition remains unlikely because Ankara has presented no concrete evidence directly implicating him in the coup attempt. “I think what [Washington] should do is to basically tell the Turks they need a smoking gun. They need much clearer evidence, which is not there yet,” he says
Scapegoating: Turkish PM again blames Gülen movement for worsening economy
As the Turkish lira plunged even further on Friday, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım claimed the Gülen movement was responsible for the deterioration in the country’s economic outlook. According to Yıldırım, “separatists” and sympathizers of the Gülen movement are working hard to ruin the Turkish economy in the eyes of the world.
