Canadian Globe Editorial- It just gets worse in Turkey


Date posted: October 16, 2016

Globe Editorial

Which came first? The abortive military coup d’état in Turkey on July 15, or the beginnings of the Turkish government’s crackdown on the followers of Fethullah Gülen? Was there any alliance between the group in the military that attempted a coup, who may have been secularists, and the religious Gülenists?

Some Turkish officials have now said that the police “are the heroes of July 15,” because patriotic police had already been successfully purging evil Gülenists, through patriotic internal police intelligence, for a good year and a half.

If that is true, then the coup attempt had the effect of accelerating the purge of the followers of Mr. Gülen (safely far off in the Pocono Hills of Pennsylvania), and the actual misguided putschists may well have been old-fashioned military secularists in the tradition of Kemal Ataturk.

The first arrests in the police may have been few. The putsch attempt unmistakably encouraged the supporters of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to detain, arrest, suspend, etc., as many as 100,000 people – schoolteachers, journalists, police officers, judges, university deans and others not usually associated with vast political conspiracies.

The numbers are still rising; there have been 13,000 more police officers placed under suspicion just in the past few weeks.

Only 270 people died in the deplorable coup attempt. But historians may take a very long time to sort out the truths and falsehoods of these months.

It need hardly be said that most of Mr. Erdogan’s program is likely to be enacted before long. A small political party, the National Movement, will suffice to get a majority in Parliament to approve a referendum to establish a new executive presidency for Mr. Erdogan, with the support of his Justice and Development Party, the AKP. The traditional opposition parties don’t want this change.

We can reasonably hope that there won’t be any large-scale bloody purges, Stalin-style. But Turkey is likely to grow further away from Europe. The convenient travel visas to the rest of Europe, which many Turks have hoped for, may be a long time away.

Source: The Globe and Mail , October 14, 2016


Related News

Will the military take up arms against Gülen supporters?

In modern states, again, elected governments will be the final authority to decide about external threat perceptions after compiling input from related institutions, including the military.

Tears and sadness as Turkish people pack up to leave Pakistan

“I know I can’t do anything to persuade the federal government to take back its decision of expelling the Turkish teachers and their families from the country,” a senior Pakistani teacher told PTI. “I must say last Friday was the saddest day in our campus in Lahore as all Turkish students were literally crying,” she said.

66,000 students relocated after Turkish government shut down 15 universities over coup charges

Turkish government has closed down 15 universities across the country over their alleged links to the Gulen movement since last summer, leading 66,000 students to look for somewhere else to continue their education.

Is There ‘The Cemaat’ Under Every Stone?

Ilıcak reaches her conclusions based on fact, using interviews, official documents, interviews and other hard evidence to make her point. Her book is a valuable source of information, especially for those who have only read texts from Fethullah Gulen’s opponents. In understanding an issue, it’s imperative to hear both sides of the story.

Boston Globe: Fethullah Gulen, a US resident wanted by Turkey, must be protected

Why was the White House even talking about Gulen, who has been living peacefully, and legally, in Pennsylvania?

In A Letter, A Jailed Woman Reveals Abuse And Ill-Treatment In Turkish Prison

A letter by a jailed Turkish woman who wrote to her aunt from Konya prison revealed the ill-treatment of detainees who were subjected to abuse, inhuman and cruel treatment in Turkey’s detentions and prisons.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Greek broadcaster praises contributions of Gülen movement

Deepening crisis

Stay course in Gulen case

M. Fethullah Gülen: educator, mystic, peacebuilder

Saylorsburg protesters focus on Turkish cleric

Gulen: Erdogan will end up like Hitler and Stalin

Albanian president hails Turkish schools in his country

Copyright 2024 Insightful Neighbor