“GLOBAL PURGE” [1]
“GLOBAL PURGE” : 144 ABDUCTIONS CONDUCTED BY THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT IN TURKEY AND ABROAD
Since July 2016, the Turkish government went on to imprison hundreds of thousands of homemakers, mothers, children, babies, teachers, NGO workers, academics, judges, prosecutors, journalists and countless other victims. Erdoğan declared a “witch-hunt” against Gülen’s followers, attempting to convince countries through carrot and stick policies or more diplomatic means to join his personal fight and do the same to the Hizmet members within their borders.
ERDOGAN’S LONG ARMS: ABDUCTIONS IN TURKEY AND ABROAD
The Origins of the Problem
Turkey’s struggle to draw the country more in line with the pillars of the European Union faced a long and accelerating slide. The country’s Freedom in the World score has been in free fall since 2014 due to an escalating series of assaults on the press, social media users, protesters, political parties, the judiciary, and the electoral system, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan fought to impose personalized control over the state and society in a deteriorating domestic and regional security environment.