Today In Crackdown

Turkey’s paranoia over the Gülen movement has reached new heights with the government banning mathematics textbooks due to questions involving the initials of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. “A textbook was banned just because it features Gülen’s initials in a practice question that reads: ‘… from point F to point G …’. It has become a […]

The Turkish government’s crackdown after the coup attempt of July 15 widened into a sweeping purge on Tuesday, reaching deeply not only into the Gulen Movement, which the AK Party officials accuses of masterminding the attempt, but also other minority groups accross the country. Teams from the İstanbul Police Department on Tuesday stormed the offices of three media

At least 90 people were arrested, while 329 others were detained over the past 24 hours, according to Turkish news agencies. Police carried out the operations in 20 provinces across Turkey. With most of the arrestees being teachers, those arrested over the past day also included police officers, high rank military personnel and businessmen.  

The Turkish government has banned journalists Ayşe Yıldırım and Celal Başlangıç from travelling abroad after seizing their passports at an İstanbul airport on Monday. “We were taken to the police station at the İstanbul airport. We are waiting for notification that our passports have been canceled. They asked us to sign a document saying that

As part of a post-July 15 coup attempt witch-hunt against the Gülen movement in the military, 540 more members of the military were temporarily suspended on Wednesday, the Cumhuriyet daily reported. According to the report 113 of the suspended personnel are from the navy, while 427 are part of the air forces. 33 military members

Turkey’s top judicial body, the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), has dismissed 66 more judges and prosecutors over alleged ties to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization, a term the government uses to describe the Gülen movement. The official Anadolu news agency reported that the judges and prosecutors were dismissed after the completion of an

Columnist Bayram Zilan from the pro-government Milat daily argued on Wednesday that Turkey’s iconic pop singer Tarkan’s newest song “Cuppa” could have been composed for the July 15 coup attempt, saying that the song’s name would have been changed from “Cuppa” to “Cunta,” a Turkish word that corresponds to “junta, if the coup attempt had been successful.” “The fact that

With several top government officials urging citizens to report sympathizers of Gülen movement to law enforcement authorities, the number of people informing on suspected Gülenists to Turkey’s national intelligence (MİT) service skyrocketed from some 2,000 to nearly 10,000 after the July 15 coup attempt. As the government holds the Gülen movement responsible for a failed

The number of Turkey-based journalists who have lost their jobs since July 15, has reached 3,000, bringing up the total number of unemployed media personnel to edge above 10,000. The landmark threshold of 10,000 accounts for one third of the total employment in Turkey’s media sector, according to the the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS). In a press conference on

At least 40 people were arrested, while 87 others were detained over the past 24 hours, according to Turkish news agencies. Police carried out the operations in 8 provinces across Turkey. With most of the arrestees being businessmen, those arrested over the past day also included teachers and university personnel.