The Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADİP) of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) announced the winners of its very first international photography contest, “Peace in the frame,” at a gala on Tuesday night at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in İstanbul.
Since the Dec. 17 corruption and bribery probe, Prime Minister Erdoğan has threatened to order an “operation” against certain civil society organizations and business groups that have voiced demands for the prime minister and his government to be held accountable in the face of alleged irregularities.
The Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) said it has won compensation in separate cases for the illegal wiretapping of a phone conversation which turned into a smear campaign against the confederation and that this money will be used to build an orphanage in Uganda, the country at the center of the smear campaign.
The Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has inspired the popular civic and social Hizmet (Service) movement, has said that the reassignment of thousands of public officials from their posts without any disciplinary procedures following the Dec. 17, 2013 corruption scandal seems to have been conducted on an arbitrary basis.
Having stayed largely silent in the face of relentless attacks amounting to hate speech by beleaguered Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was incriminated in a massive corruption scandal, Fethullah Gülen spoke to Today’s Zaman and provided his account of how he sees the recent events in Turkey in his first interview with the Turkish media since Dec. 17.
Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) Chairman Rıza Nur Meral voiced his disappointment on Friday over the decision by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which tries to attract voters with promises of democracy, more human rights, increased rule of law and reforms to gain EU membership, to block access to Twitter.
Kemal Gülen addressed allegations about the scholar’s financial situation, explaining that Fethullah Gülen resides at a facility that belongs to a foundation and for which he pays rent, rejecting the claim that the scholar owns the property.
Kyrgyzstan’s Minister of Culture and Tourism Sultan Rayev attended the Turkish Language Olympics’ eliminations in his country. Rayev in his statements said, “Theses schools are of golden value to us. In fact, even more than that as gold mines will be exhausted sooner or later but knowledge won’t.”
The in-depth interview with Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has inspired the popular civic and social movement called Hizmet, and was published this week in a five-part series by both Zaman and Today’s Zaman was received well by people from all walks of life including intellectuals, academics, politicians and human rights activists.