Turkey Purge

VIDEO: Turkish special operations forces raid law office, arrest attorneys

Newly emerged video footage shows the moment a group of Turkish special operations forces raid a law office in Ankara early on Saturday and detain every lawyer in the room by force. In the 18-second video, viewed hundreds of times on YouTube and Twitter, special operations members with heavy armor enter the Progressive Lawyers’ Association’s (ÇHD) […]

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Police seal off 370 foundation buildings shuttered by gov’t decree across Turkey

Hours after Turkey’s Interior Ministry announced that the activities of 370 foundations have been halted based on emergency rule currently in force in the country, Turkish police have reportedly begun sealing off the buildings of shuttered foundations in İstanbul and Ankara. A group of Turkish special operations forces raided a law office in Ankara early on Saturday, detained

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Erdoğan directly appoints rector for first time to Turkey’s Boğaziçi University

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has appointed Prof. Dr. Mehmed Özkan as the new rector of Istanbul’s prestigious Boğaziçi University, even though university academics elected Prof. Dr. Gülay Barbarosoğlu as rector four months ago. Erdoğan selected Özkan from among three names recommended by the Higher Education Board (YÖK), according to a statement on presidential website on

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Turkish court arrests Cumhuriyet CEO Akın Atalay

The İstanbul 9th Penal Court of Peace on Saturday arrested Akin Atalay, the chief executive officer of Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported Atalay was detained early on Friday at Istanbul Ataturk Airport after arriving from Berlin. An Istanbul court ruled for Atalay’s arrest last week, but police did not find him

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Teacher-turned-construction worker falls, awakes from coma with fractures

An Istanbul teacher of religious culture and moral knowledge has recently woken up from a months-long coma with multiple fractures as a result of a workplace accident. But he was not at school at the time of the accident as he is among tens of thousands of people who had earlier been dismissed from their

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Turkish police detains Cumhuriyet CEO Atalay in Istanbul

Turkish police detained the chief executive of Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday. According to the agency, CEO Akin Atalay was detained at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. Atalay was reportedly detained after arriving from Berlin. An Istanbul court called for Atalay’s arrest last week, but police did not find him at

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94 more teachers, businesspeople arrested in Turkey purge

In Turkey’s relentless witch-hunt against perceived sympathizes of the Gülen movement, a total of 94 people were detained in a number of provinces on Friday, while seven were arrested in police raids in Manisa. Part of a purge that gained momentum following a July 15 coup attempt, the police raided several locations in Bursa province

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Imprisoned Cumhuriyet columnists say all they did was journalism

In messages sent through Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies Şafak Pavey and Sezgin Tanrıkulu, who paid a visit to imprisoned Cumhuriyet columnists and executives on Thursday, the jailed journalists said that all they did was journalism and they are being held on nonsense charges. Nine Cumhuriyet staff members joined the ranks of nearly 150 journalists

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The Economist Editorial: ‘President Erdogan keeps on purging’

“The HDP is the latest casualty of the snowballing purges ordered by Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the aftermath of the failed coup on July 15th. Over 36,000 people have been arrested and 100,000 sacked, most of them from state jobs. Mr Erdogan has imposed emergency rule and put Turkish politics in a stranglehold,”

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6-months pregnant woman with 13-month-old child held in 33-person cell

Buket Büyükçelebi, a six-months-pregnant academic with a 13-month-old child has been kept in a 33-person holding cell in a Gaziantep prison for three months, the Haberdar news portal reported on Friday. Büyükçelebi was a research assistant in the department of economics of Kilis University. She was arrested by Turkish police on July 30 based on

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