Erdogan’s rampage
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not easily pacified over the July 15, 2016, failed putsch in his country. He is on a manic hunt for Fethullah Gulen, an Islamist cleric and former ally-turned foe of the president who presently lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, United States. The government in Ankara apparently has foreclosed any controversion of its suspicion that Gulen is the mastermind of the failed coup in which some 240 persons died and more than 2,000 got injured, even though no conclusive evidence has yet been adduced to prove that indictment. Gulen himself has openly condemned the coup and fiercely denied any connection with its executors. But proof be damned! Erdogan has picked his battle and is determined to exert vengeance; a remote hint, even of some vicarious link with the Gulen cosmos, is sufficient to bring anyone into the line of his fire.
At the last count, Turkish authorities have suspended nearly 13,000 police officers, detained dozens of military chiefs, and only last week shut down a television station in a widening clampdown against perceived enemies of the government and Gulen associates. The police headquarters confirmed that 12,801 officers – 2,523 of whom were of very senior cadre – got booted because of their suspected links to the cleric. Turkish news sources reported that besides suspending five percent of the entire police force, the authorities also detained 33 air force officers in random raids across the country, while broadcast transmission by the IMC television station was cut following accusations that it was spreading “terrorist propaganda.” State-run news agency, Anadolu, also said 37 people working at the Interior Ministry had been removed from their posts and offered no explanation for the measure.
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