Keyword: Democracy
GYV: Hard-won democratic gains sacrificed for short-term interests
The move to seek the extradition of Fethullah Gülen using irrational justifications, the pressures on those businesspeople who sympathize with the Hizmet movement and the boycotts and sufferings that came in the wake of Erdoğan’s threat, “Do not given them [the Hizmet movement] even a single drop of water,” are the sort of developments unseen even during coup eras.
Does Erdogan really want Gulen in Turkey?
General assumption is that Erdogan is indeed playing a cynical game with the Gulen issue, and also involving the United States in this, in a populist effort aimed at his own constituency in the lead-up to the presidential elections in August, where he is expected to run.
Court accepts indictment against 9 officers in case seen as political witch hunt
The investigation into the nine police officers is being carried out by Adana Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Ali Doğan. The investigation drew strong criticism, as they were based on claims made in government media outlets’ news reports. This raised suspicions as to whether the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) had kicked off a witch hunt against the Hizmet movement, which the prime minister recently threatened to “punish with a large-scale operation.
Is it a parallel triangle or square?
The content of a secret meeting on Syria was leaked to the media. This paper made a headline back then asking for accountability for the leak as well as the horrible plans discussed at that meeting. What did the prime minister do? Without offering evidence, he declared that the Hizmet movement was the culprit; a few days ago, he admitted that they were unable to identify the perpetrators. So, why did you declare the movement responsible for it?
Parallel vs. Persian structure within the Turkish state
Despite all these accusations, the Erdoğan government has not produced any evidence to substantiate his allegations of a parallel structure within the judiciary, police or any other state institution, nor of officials receiving orders from anywhere other than their own legal superiors, nor has he or his government brought any of these charges to court.
‘Ankara no longer producing laws compatible with EU norms’
When it comes to how Europe sees Erdoğan’s claims and the demonization of the Gülen movement, European Commission officials clearly told Turkish officials, including Çavuşoğlu, that the AKP’s demonization of the Gülen movement seems like an effort by the ruling party to cover up the corruption investigation, because there is no other way to explain why prosecutors and police who have been investigating a major corruption [scandal] were removed.
Erdoğan escalates elimination of Gülenists from state [ with no proof of accusations]
Since the Dec. 17 graft probe, hundreds of prosecutors and judges and around 2,500 police officers who the government believes to be close to Gülen have been removed from their posts, and it seems that it is not going to stop there.
Debunking Erdoğan’s smear campaign against Gülen
Acting as prosecutor, judge and executioner, Turkey’s chief political Islamist, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has already convicted a well-respected Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gülen, of what he called a civilian coup attempt, a fabricated charge devised by Erdoğan to discredit the vast graft scandal that incriminates him and his associates, including his family members.
In Turkey, how Germany’s president became ‘Germany’s imam’
The Gulen movement is primarily a civil society organization, consisting of thousands of teachers, academics, journalists, businessmen and charitable workers. A political attack against their legitimate services and institutions would be disastrous for rule of law and societal peace, both of which have already been seriously compromised in Turkey.
Courts order corrections to gov’t media stories on Hizmet
Several courts have ruled against untruthful stories published or broadcast by media institutions close to the government about the Hizmet movement, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused of trying to undermine his government, but most newspapers and stations have not published the corrections as they should according to the rulings.
Turkish opposition: Enquiry against Gülen politically motivated
Turkey’s opposition parties across the political spectrum criticized reports that a criminal investigation was launched against Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, saying that the allegations are a political tactic by embattled Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to distract public interest away from a big graft scandal that has implicated himself, his family members and his senior government officials.
