Turkey Purge

Turkish police dispersed on Saturday a group of around 50 teachers who were staging a protest in Diyarbakır against the Turkish government’s recent suspension of 11,285 teachers over alleged links with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Teachers, blowing whistles and holding placards gathered at the main avenue of Diyarbakır’s Kayapınar district early on Saturday. Riot police used […]

At least 63 people were arrested, while 235 others were detained over the past 24 hours, according to Turkish news agencies. Police carried out the operations in 35 provinces across Turkey. With most of the arrestees being school teachers, those arrested over the past day also included university personnel, a bar president, businessmen, public workers, one

A  Turkish court on Sunday arrested a former Turkish military attaché to Washington on charges of alleged ties to coup plotters. Gen. Yavuz Çelik quit the military following a failed coup attempt on July 15 but was briefly detained by an Ankara court. He was released under judiciary supervision. Detained by police on Sunday, Çelik

Former European parliamentarian and journalist Joost Lagendijk tweeted that he was denied entry to Turkey on Sunday on the grounds that he needed to obtain a “special visa” from the Turkish Embassy in the Netherlands. “Turkish authorities stopped me on my return fturom Neth at Sabiha Gökcen airport. I am not allowed in. Send back to Neth

A huge cleansing of Turkey’s state and other institutions is continuing as people from all walks of life find themselves being hunted down and taken into custody. At least 98 people were arrested, while 219 others were detained over the past 24 hours, according to Turkish news agencies. Police carried out the operations in 35

Five people including cousins of the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen have been detained in Erzurum’s Korucuk village. Earlier this month, police also detained a nephew of Gülen in İstanbul and his niece in Balıkesir. Critics have lambasted the government for a massive purge it is carrying out that violates the principle of individual criminal responsibility.

A recent circular from Turkey’s Education Ministry has asked school mayors to rat on teachers whom they consider affiliated with the outlawed PKK, implying at another wave of massive dismissals under emergency rules. “The list of the personnel who carry out activities supporting the PKK terror organization and of those who must be dismissed from