Opinions
Three political risks that Turkey might be exposed to
Economic indicators in Turkey cannot bear the political risk anymore. The currency rates go up whenever President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan makes a statement. Before the elections I had warned that Erdoğan’s election victory would bring instability, but nobody believed this. There are now three major fields of conflict and uncertainty before Turkey.
Separation politics and Islam makes Gülen AKP’s enemy
“The Gülen Movement is faith inspired in its motivation, but faith neutral in its manifestation.” That is how key speaker Ozcan Keles, chairperson of Dialogue Society in London, characterized the Gülen Movement in a panel discussion on the Hizmet Movement Tuesday in the European Parliament.
Fethullah Gulen: Turkey’s Eroding Democracy (op-ed in NY Times)
It is deeply disappointing to see what has become of Turkey in the last few years. Not long ago, it was the envy of Muslim-majority countries: a viable candidate for the European Union on its path to becoming a functioning democracy that upholds universal human rights, gender equality, the rule of law and the rights of Kurdish and non-Muslim citizens.
Erdoğan’s fight against education in Africa
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited a few African nations, among them Somalia and Ethiopia. When looking at his media mouthpieces’ coverage of the trip and his declarations, it seems the primary reason of his trip was to “tell” the African nations to close schools that were established by civil society groups and private companies affiliated with the Hizmet movement.
That Erdogan’s War With Education In Africa
The branding of Gulen-inspired schools as treasonous, thus, serves the purpose of Erdogan and not that of Africa. Even if he builds public schools in Africa, will he sustain it? Will he ensure that the government after him will not reverse the policy? Africa is wiser than the Turkish president thinks.
Turkish schools and the race in philanthropy!
Government spokesman and Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said the effort was discussed at the last Cabinet meeting and a presentation was made.ınç reminded the limits set by law and said, “We don’t have a duty to close down the Turkish schools there, and we lack the power, too.”
Erdoğan’s African mission and dismantling Turkish schools
How do Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s repeated calls for the closure of Turkish schools located on the African continent, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, serve Turkish national interests? It appears that in his fight against a “parallel structure,” which he equates with institutions and people inspired by the faith-based Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, the current Turkish president is losing a sense of direction.
Can resurrecting the caliphate solve Muslims’ problems?
The recent terrorist attacks in Paris once more brought up the issue of how homegrown terrorism is shaping up to be one of the most striking elements of today’s terror threat, as former US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano predicted in 2011.
