A Chat with Vonya Womack, a Human Rights Activist and Expert on Turkey and Its [Gulen Follower] Refugees
Date posted: December 20, 2019
RICH FISHER
Following a recent coup attempt, more than 100,000 people were arrested and dismissed from their jobs in the Republic of Turkey. Turkey is also the world’s largest jailer of journalists; 300+ are now behind bars. Our guest is an expert on these and related matters: Vonya Womack teaches at Cabrini University in Pennsylvania and spoke recently at the Raindrop Turkish House in Broken Arrow, OK.
She spoke about her work as a human rights activist and about how she recently visited with Turkish political refugees in Greece. She tells us about these adventures on StudioTulsa.
Turkey will hurt own interests if gov’t shuts down Kimse Yok Mu
Former Director for East African Affairs for the US State Department Professor David Shinn said in an interview, “If the government of Turkey is trying to shut down Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) it would seem to be a case of hurting its own interests in Africa.”
How does PM Erdoğan hurt the liberal pious of Turkey?
Turkey has been vigorously debating the nature of its democracy and popular Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling style, which has increasingly authoritarian tendencies, as never before since the Gezi Park protests in May. From my perspective, the Gezi protests, on which everyone was almost forced to take sides, is a grey area since both the government and the protesters made their share of mistakes.
Turkish Gov’t Seizes 965 Gülen Movement Affiliated Firms With $11.3 Billion Worth
Turkish Deputy PM Nurettin Canikli said on Friday that the Turkish government has seized 965 companies which were affiliated to the Gülen movement. The value of assets belonging to companies seized by the Turkish state during the ongoing state of emergency is also announced as nearly 41 billion Turkish Liras, around $11.3 billion.
Students from 70 countries share joy of graduating in İstanbul ceremony
Foreign students who have come to study in Turkey threw their caps into the air in celebration at a graduation ceremony held in Istanbul on Wednesday.
285 Turkish teachers and families risk forcible deportation and persecution in Pakistan
Dimitris Christopolous, FIDH President: The Pakistani government’s deportation of a Turkish family should set off alarm bells. The Pakistani government must ensure the protection of the other 285 individuals who risk being deported to Turkey and put an end to the blatant disregard of its international obligations.
Gülen’s lawyer, Court of Appeals deny claims of AK Party official
“I think the ministry of justice went beyond its authority in making a change requiring the judges and prosecutors to inform the administration about investigations,” Akyol further added, urging everyone to keep the rule of law above political conflicts.
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