The government announced that at least 250,000 people downloaded ByLock on their cell phones. Even tracking this number is a violation of the law, but… oh well, who cares, right? More than 40,000 of these people worked in public institutions and suspected of being sympathizers of the Gulen movement.
According to Dabiri-Erewa: “The Federal Government is taking the detention of Nigerian students by Turkish authorities seriously. It seems that Turkey is trying to get at Nigeria for our failure to close down the 17 schools they requested. The government did not close down these schools because their owners and managers, who are private people have not breached Nigerian laws.”
“Once again, the Turkish media, under government control or pressure, is circulating horrific rumours, this time about a supposed second coup attempt in the works, supposedly prepared by my sympathizers with the backing of the United States. Such rumours are unfounded and irresponsible,” Gülen said.
A Turkish family of four has settled in New Hampshire, fleeing a crackdown in their homeland that has led to the arrests of thousands of civil servants. They can’t go home but they can’t stay here forever; the tourist visas that brought them here will expire. So they wait, and they worry.
Nigerian students in Turkey say that the Turkish government has declared a war on them and that they feel targeted, therefore they stay in hiding for fear of being arrested or deported. “We are scared of leaving our rooms for fear of being arrested and charged with terrorism, or deported. There is a man-hunt for Nigerian students in Turkey,” a student told The Cable.
Despite a relentless crackdown against any questioning of the government’s narrative regarding what really happened during a failed coup on July 15, second-year air force student Murat Tekin’s throat was slit by an angry mob, his sister has claimed, backing up her allegation with an autopsy report.
According to TR724 columnist Selin Tanbay, Erdoğan’s speech was nothing but the first signal of what she calls ‘a new plot in the making’ against the sympathizers of the Gülen movement and other dissident voices. Giving his Ramadan holiday message on September 13, Erdoğan kept his eyes away from the teleprompter and let his plans slip out for a while, Tanbay said.
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.
A Turkish woman who was arrested when she was eight months pregnant has recently been released after giving birth while incarcerated. Turkeypurge.com reached out to the victim, who spoke about her experiences under arrest. She preferred not to reveal her identity due to concerns over Turkey’s socio-political environment.
Chief Public Prosecutor of Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals Mehmet Akarca has sent letters to prosecutors in 121 countries around the world explaining the failed July 15 coup in Turkey, joining Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in accusing the Gülen movement of masterminding the putsch.
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.”
In one more of a series of fabricated reports, the pro-government Takvim newspaper ran a lead story on Saturday claiming that Muslim scholar Fethullah Gülen holds a passport from the Vatican since he receives instructions from the Catholic Church. It was discovered that an image of a Vatican passport found on Google was photoshopped by Takvim daily.
When Atambayev got sick while in Turkey in September, Erdoğan ordered hospitals across the country to refuse him medical services. Consequently, Atambayev went to Moscow for treatment. The deputy who made this claim also stated that once Erdoğan turns his back on someone, he would never again consider that person a friend.