[AlAhram] Sweden won't send back failed asylum-seekers from Turkey with "reliable connections" to the attempted coup in that country, authorities said Wednesday. Swedish migration agency Migrationsverket said that "these are supporters of opposition leader Fethullah Gulen," the U.S.-based Muslim cleric that Turkey blames for the July 15 coup attempt.
Turkish police raid science council, many detained, in post-coup purge - NTV
[AlAhram] Turkish police raided the offices of the national science research council on Wednesday, broadcaster NTV said, widening the investigation into followers of the U.S.-based cleric suspected of masterminding last month's coup attempt. Many people were detained in the raid of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Tubitak), NTV said.
Actors suspended from City Theaters after failed coup attempt
| No stone to be left unturned, though it is but a grain of sand. |
Turkish police seize millions of liras in Gülen raids
| No point in holding a purge if it doesn't show a profit for the leadership. |
According to security sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, officers from anti-smuggling and organized crime units raided different addresses in a number of Istanbul districts, including Güngören, Beylikdüzü, Sarıyer and Kadıköy. During the operation, police seized 3.5 million liras ($1.16 million) in currency, 50 million liras ($16.5 million) in checks, organizational documents and a number of American one dollar bills with an F serial number, which were believed to be used to show membership in FETÖ. The money was believed to have been collected as charitable donations from the followers of Fethullah Gülen, the sources said.
At least 11 people, including a purported leading fundraiser, were also held during the raid. The suspects were accused of having links to the organization.
Gülenist prosecutor’s confession a sigh of relief for former top Turkish soldier
[Hurriyet] Former Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt has said he was happy about the fact that a prosecutor linked to Fethullah Gülen, the alleged mastermind of the July 15 coup attempt, has confessed to putting false charges against him a decade ago in a bid to ease the rooting of the group within the military.
Turkish pilot admits to bombarding parliament during failed coup attempt
[Hurriyet] Pilot Staff Cpt. Hüseyin Türk confessed in his testimony that Brig. Hakan Evrim, the commander of the Akıncı Air Base in the capital Ankara, gave him the order to bomb Turkey’s Grand National Assembly, saying that he dropped the bomb within the given orders. He also said that Staff Lt. Col. Hakan Karakuş and Staff Maj. Mustafa Azimetli held a meeting over the bombardment plan and gave him the coordinates.
“I bombarded the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as my target with the order of my commanders,” Türk said during a cross-examination in his interrogation.
A total of 105 pilots, who were discharged from the army according to a decree law, were detained as a part of the investigation into the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), which was responsible for the coup attempt. Five pilots were later referred to court. Türk and First Lt. Halil İbrahim G. were arrested while the other three were released on probation.
Pregnant woman attacked for ‘wearing revealing clothes, supporting coup’ in Istanbul
| How long until the tumbrils rumble through the streets? |
“Why are you wearing revealing clothes? You are a coup supporter and a Gülenist,” the group reportedly yelled at Ölmez, as they also called for people nearby to join them in beating her.
“You won’t get dressed this way anymore, you will get dressed the way we want you to and you will obey us,” the group also said, according to the report.
Speaking about the incident, Ölmez said that she was walking to her home in Istanbul’s Kocamustafapaşa neighborhood when three people, two of whom were burqa-wearing women, started to attack her.
“I got out of work and I was going home on a road that I use every day. Someone suddenly pulled my hair from behind. When I turned around I saw a woman wearing a burqa and asked her the reason why she pulled my hair, but she started to attack me,” Ölmez told Evrensel, adding that she was called a “traitor” by the group.
“They called for others to attack me. They wanted to lynch me there,” she also said.
Saying that a man aged 26 or 27 showed up at the scene a couple of minutes later, Ölmez added that he threatened to attack other people living in the neighborhood.
“A couple of minutes later a man with a long beard came over and shouted, ‘There are four others in the neighborhood that we marked, their turn will come.’ Then he kicked my ankle,” she said.