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| Erdogan |
Currently Turkey holds 73 journalists in prison the most in the world beating out both China in second and Egypt coming in third. All of these countries imprison journalists on anti-state charges which generally means they criticized the state in some way. Why exactly does Turkey hold the first place spot, well in 2016 a coup overthrow the current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was attempted but ultimately failed. Sections of the military in favor of the coup attempted to take control by attempting to occupy the parliament in Ankara and bombing the presidential palace. The coup forces had men in every level of the chain of command but it wasn't enough. The main reason that the coup failed was the coup leaders did not think that the people of Turkey would come out in support of Erdogan's government, this allowed Erdogan to stay in power.
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| Loyal citizens and soldiers |
After the coup failed all of the military forces that were involved were obviously imprisoned, but Erdogan did not stop there. He then began a purge were he detained upwards of 25,000 people. 9,000 police officers were fired a move which the New York Times calls, "Like firing every police officer in Philadelphia, Dallas, Detroit, Boston and Baltimore". The Turkish military has had 10,012 of its soldiers detained with half of the top generals and admirals were either fired or put in prison. He revoked the teaching license of 21,000 private school teachers, he also forced 1,500 deans at universities to resign, and fired 21,700 officials from the Ministry of Education. Erdogan also suspended 2,745 member of his judiciary even members on the highest court, 1,500 Minister of Finance officials, and shut a staggering 100 media outlets. Now you might be wondering what exactly is the criteria being applied here for all this, the military and police they participated in the coup in 2016 physically so it makes sense, the journalists and media outlets they criticized Erdogan so there, but what about everyone else teachers, judges, and government administrators. Well to the method to Erdogan's madness is one man who currently resides Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.
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| Gulen |
Fetullah Gulen is a Turkish born Muslim Cleric who has lived in exile in the US since the late 90's. Gulen is described by supporters as a "moderate Muslim cleric who champions interfaith dialogue" he has a loyal group of followers who are called Gulenists who follow the Hizmet movement. Which is described as, " a moderate, Pro-Western brand of Sunni Islam that appeals to well-educated and professional Turks". This is the man to which Erdogan believes is the mastermind behind the coup, Gulen denies involvement. This has not stopped Erdogan from issuing a warrant for his arrest in 2016 and recently arresting and sentencing 24 journalists to prison terms of 6 to 7 years on the charges of being suspected members of Hizmet. The journalists worked at the major newspaper Zaman which was one of the 100 outlets closed in the purge. The Turkish government also gave 6 journalists life imprisonment for allegedly knowing that the coup would take place shortly before the attempt. 17 journalists were tried for allegedly aiding terrorist groups from the last large independent newspaper in Turkey Cumhuriyet many of whom were senior staff including the editor and chief executive. The chief executive Akin Atalay stated that the their trial had two goals, the first to "silence" Cumhuriyet and to "show other journalists their fate and in practice what will happen if they write what the government does not like.". Erdogan believes Gulen to be his adversary something that was not always the case but is believed by some.
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| Gulen and Erdogan back in the day |
Gulen at one point was a strong supporter of Erdogan and even backed investigations into alleged coup plotters such as military personal, secular writers, academics and businessmen. One writer Ahmet Sik author of the book " The Imam's Army" was imprisoned for the book that was critical of Gulen before it was published. In Sik's view Erdogan and Gulen are the countries two most powerful Islamic leaders and has said that "On the one side, there is the Gulen community, a dark opaque power that can damage the powerful administration in Turkish history, And on the other side, you have an administration that under the guise of fighting the community can and has suspended all legal and democratic principles,". Now whatever the case that Erdogan is using as a scapegoat or Gulen is the leader of a massive conspiracy, the fact remains that Erdogan has done as Sik said and destroyed the ideas of freedom of the press and freedom of expression. Turkey is on the way to or already has become a dictatorship.
New York Times article on Gulen here.
New York Times article on Erdogan's purges here.
New York Times article on the 24 Journalists here.
New York Times article on the 17 Journalists here.
CNN article on 6 Journalists imprisoned for life here.
CNN article on Gulen here.
Committee to Protect Journalists article on imprisoned journalists here.
