Having failed to make progress on the settlement process, which was supposed to pave the way for the disarming of Kurdish militants and address long-standing Kurdish demands, the Turkish government has now turned its attention to finding a scapegoat on which to place blame for the stalled talks ahead of national elections slated for June 2015.
Turkey’s political Islamists, armed with abusive government powers, are deliberately and maliciously trying to strangle the country’s leading private charity group, Kimse Yok Mu, in order to dismantle an important barrier in front of the awkward social engineering project of turning this moderate Muslim nation into a bastion for ideological zealots.
There are few individuals in Turkish political history with such a long career as Haluk Özdalga. Having formerly served with the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and the Republican Peoples Party (CHP), Özdalga joined the AK Party (the ruling Justice and Development party) with high hopes for democracy in 2007.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government is aiming to take all steps to finish off Hizmet movement sympathizers by any means. Discrimination is one of these steps. Discrimination is a human rights violation. I would like to share five of my personal experiences, of many more, to show what kind of discrimination is being committed against the movement’s sympathizers.
The Sabah newspaper greeted the news of the 10-hour National Security Council (MGK) meeting with the headline “Parallel structure added to red book.” But this was, of course, a complete lie. For a long time now, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been indicating that the Hizmet movement — which he refers to as the “parallel structure” — would be officially added to the National Security Strategy Concept Paper as a “domestic threat.” This is a part of his personal vendetta and Erdoğan has kept up this propaganda war even as president of Turkey.
In a statement that came as a confession, a reporter from the pro-government Sabah daily said a decision was made at the National Security Council (MGK) meeting on Thursday to wage an effective war against all religious groups in the country.
Caliph Omar, who is renowned for his attention to justice, paid a visit to sacred sites after taking over control of Jerusalem from Governor Sophronius. He visited Masjid al Aqsa and later also wanted to see the Church of Resurrection where, according to Christian belief, Jesus was crucified and prepared for burial. Sophronius, who was walking with Omar, recalled that he performed prayers everywhere he visited and asked him to do the same at the church. Omar rejected the request saying, “If I perform prayer here, Muslims will build a mosque on this very spot.” Instead he found an empty area to the south of the church for prayer, upon which Muslims thereafter erected a mosque named after Omar.
Dr. Selim Kaptanoğlu, former Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) politician and former doctor of late iconic MHP leader Alparslan Türkeş, said on Tuesday that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has replaced the National Security Council (MGK) of the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup by amassing power.
Erdoğan has asserted that the Gülen movement is to be included in the Red Book as a “prioritized threat.” But never mind the fact that he acts and speaks as though this has all been decided upon already. The fact is, he does not have the proper authority to do this. What’s more, there is absolutely no document or piece of information that would support such a move.
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.”
An election was held at the Ankara Bar Association recently. Nuh Mete Yüksel, who was among the powers that be in the prosecutorial community in the past, entered while this was taking place. He was once an awe-inspiring prosecutor. Apparently, he retired from prosecuting and became a lawyer. Of course, he is now deprived of the terrifying appearance he had in those years. He no longer has the frigid countenance that would send everyone’s hearts throbbing with fear. As it happens, some lawyers started to protest harshly the “fledgling lawyer.” Moreover, the hall was filled with shouts of “Go away!” So Yüksel had to go back without casting his vote…