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Comment by afsina | Hacker News Reader

Can you blame people? That is a consequence they should have been thought of before being involved with a coup.

How exactly was all those teachers involved in the coup?

No, that kind of group think is a consequence of not having proper freedom of press and proper freedom of association in the country. Which in turn is a consequence of voting for Erdogan (even if not everything was roses on that front before Erdogan, to be fair).

If they weren't involved that is OK. But if they supported this organisation in anyway it should be examined. Of course every legal action should be taken with evidence. Legal action was ongoing and slow. And I was supporting event-based trials not something like witch hunt. However after the coup attempt any state would take drastic actions to secure itself. And don't forget that most of the people supports this. (They bombed national council!). There are many background events you may or may not know, like mobbing other soldiers to resign, stealing questions of state entrance exam and sharing in their secretive organisation, businesses were threatened etc. Imagine something like that happens in a (rich) western country. It is hard to imagine, because they wouldn't allow it from the beginning... Situation is not clear and not black&white. In Turkey people try to choose lesser evil every time.

Actually, I'd claim that democratic countries would limit the drastic choices to the short period when it is actively defeating the actual coup. After the coup failed, there is plenty of time to be methodological and not harm the rule of law. If members of some group do something bad, then use the law to fight the wrongdoers for the actual crimes that has been committed.

As for businesses being threatened, how many media businesses have been closed by Erdogan? Free press is not optional for something that claims itself to be a democracy. Turkey is worst in class in that department, and as long as that is the case, whatever people support doesn't really matter, because the leader can dictate what news they see (or not).

I agree with you in general. I think the key justification point for ongoing trials is this organisation is in the works of infiltrating the government since 1970's. Also I am aware that Erdogan helped this organisation in the past, so I'm not a supporter. I only think it is better for the future of Turkey to get rid of a secretive organisation like this.

>"As for businesses being threatened, how many media businesses have been closed by Erdogan?"

Erdogan and Gulen organisation in police and in judicial system done those things together. Every trial that is against Gulen's opponents contamined with fabricated proofs.

>"Turkey is worst in class in that department"

I sadly agree with you.

>"whatever people support doesn't really matter, because the leader can dictate what news they see (or not)."

Things are a bit complicated than that in Turkey. Most of the people hated Gulen's organisation before 2013, where Erdogan and Gulen media protected and praised him. Also other political parties support Erdogan in this case...

Did I say they were involved? Most likely they were clueless. I meant once the the decision makers of the movement are even slightly involved with this, people will blame it all. This is a natural reaction. Besides, on the flip side, movement has more serious `group think` issues than others.

You said

> That is a consequence they should have been thought of before being involved with a coup.

The teachers and other of the movement that wasn't involved in any wrongdoing are still part of those getting hit by the witch hunt.

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