Freedom House
“Julian Borger,” “The Man Who Said No: How Iran
Coerces Expats to Inform on Friends,” Guardian, August
21, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/21/
the-man-who-said-no-how-iran-coerces-expats-to-inform-on-friends.
“Omer Güney, assassin présumé de trois militantes kurdes à Paris, meurt
avant son procès” [Omer Güney, suspected murderer of three Kurdish
activists in Paris, dies before trial], 20 Minutes, December 17, 2016, https://
www.20minutes.fr/societe/1982627-20161217-omer-gney-assassin-presumetrois-militantes-kurdes-paris-meurt-avant-proces.
257
272
“Iran Halts Execution of Three Protesters After Online Campaign,”
British Broadcasting Corporation, July 19, 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/
world-middle-east-53463685.
273
258
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, “Abusive Use of the
Interpol System: The Need for More Stringent Legal Safeguards,”
March 29, 2017, https://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.
asp?fileid=23524&lang=en.
259
Masih Alinejad, “Iranian Officials Have Declared They Want to Kidnap Me. It’s
Happened to Others Before,” Washington Post, August 10, 2020, https://www.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/10/iranian-officials-have-declared-theywant-kidnap-me-its-happened-others-before/.
260
Reporters Without Borders, “Open Letter about Threats to Iranian
Journalists in Six EU Countries and US,” January 22, 2020, https://rsf.org/en/news/
open-letter-about-threats-iranian-journalists-six-eu-countries-and-us#.
261
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Iran:
Targeting of Journalists Threatens Freedom of Press, Say UN Experts,”
March 11, 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.
aspx?NewsID=25706&LangID=E.
262
Marcus Michaelsen, “Silencing Across Borders: Transnational Repression and
Digital Threats Against Exiled Activists From Egypt, Syria, and Iran,” Hivos, 2019,
https://www.hivos.org/assets/2020/02/SILENCING-ACROSS-BORDERS-MarcusMichaelsen-Hivos-Report.pdf.
263
Reporters Without Borders, “Prison Sentences for Relatives
of Iranian Journalists,” July 22, 2020, https://rsf.org/en/news/
prison-sentences-relatives-iranian-journalists.
264
Michael Lipin and Ramin Haghjoo, “Turkey-Based Iranian Dissident Says Iran
Sentenced Her to Prison for Protesting in 2019,” November 2, 2020, https://www.
voanews.com/middle-east/voa-news-iran/turkey-based-iranian-dissident-saysiran-sentenced-her-prison-protesting; Human Rights Watch, “Iran: Targeting
of Dual Citizens, Foreigners,” September 26, 2018, https://www.hrw.org/
news/2018/09/26/iran-targeting-dual-citizens-foreigners.
265
266
Freedom House interview with Iranian exile, November 2019.
Collin Anderson and Karim Sadjadpour, “Iran’s Cyber Threat: Espionage,
Sabotage, and Revenge,” January 4, 2018, https://carnegieendowment.
org/2018/01/04/iran-s-cyber-threat-espionage-sabotage-and-revenge-pub-75134.
267
Elias Groll, “Spear Phishing in Tehran,” Foreign Policy, August 9, 2016,
https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/09/spear-phishing-in-tehran/.
268
“German Interior Ministry Bans Biker Gang Osmanen Germania
BC,” Deutsche Welle, July, 10, 2018, https://www.dw.com/en/
german-interior-ministry-bans-biker-gang-osmanen-germania-bc/a-44595773.
Chase Winter, “Turkish Imam Spy Affair in Germany Extends Across
Europe,” Deutsche Welle, February 16, 2017, https://www.dw.com/en/turkishimam-spy-affair-in-germany-extends-across-europe/a-37590672; Ahmet Erdi
Öztürk and Semiha Sözeri, “Diyanet as a Turkish Foreign Policy Tool: Evidence
from the Netherlands and Bulgaria,” Politics & Religion 11, no. 3 (March 2, 2018),
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/politics-and-religion/article/diyanetas-a-turkish-foreign-policy-tool-evidence-from-the-netherlands-and-bulgaria/6
7BCDC6BCF8A801E66CD5535DAB33CF1.
274
Nate Schenkkan, “The Remarkable Scale of Turkey’s ‘Global Purge,’”
Foreign Affairs, January 29, 2018, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/
turkey/2018-01-29/remarkable-scale-turkeys-global-purge.
275
In the 2000s under the first governments of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s
Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Islamic movement of Fethullah
Gülen became a powerful force that backed the government through its
media outlets and educational activities. Many of its members populated
the ranks of Turkey’s large civil service, from universities to prosecutors’
and judges’ offices. The movement’s domestic success was backed by its
expansive global activities, especially in education: a network of thousands
of primary schools, high schools, and universities in dozens of countries
spread the movement’s ideas and provided revenue for its other activities.
In many ways, its global presence acted as a soft-power arm of Erdoğan’s
governments, representing Turkey abroad at a time when the AKP still
mistrusted the secularists it believed dominated the Foreign Ministry. The
movement and the government began to fall out in 2012 and decisively
split in December 2013. When the coup attempt occurred on July 15,
2016, the Turkish government immediately blamed the Gülen movement.
Evidence against some high-level members of the movement is credible
but circumstantial. The government has gone far beyond that, asserting
that all people associated with the movement, which may number in the
hundreds of thousands or millions, were responsible, even those who had
merely studied at Gülenist schools, held accounts at Gülenist banks, or used
allegedly Gülenist messaging apps to communicate.
276
Kemal Karadağ, “Firari FETÖ’cüler için 105 ülkeyle yürütülen iade trafiği”
[Return traffic with 105 countries for fugitive FETÖ members], Anadolu
Agency, July 13, 2020, https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/15-temmuz-darbe-girisimi/
firari-fetoculer-icin-105-ulkeyle-yurutulen-iade-trafigi/1908422.
277
“Duyurular” [Announcements], Terör Arananlar, October 3, 2020,
http://www.terorarananlar.pol.tr/duyurular.
278
Marcus Michaelsen, “Silencing Across Borders: Transnational Repression and
Digital Threats Against Exiled Activists From Egypt, Syria, and Iran,” Hivos, 2019,
https://www.hivos.org/assets/2020/02/SILENCING-ACROSS-BORDERS-MarcusMichaelsen-Hivos-Report.pdf.
269
Sinem Adar, “Rethinking Political Attitudes of Migrants from Turkey and
Their Germany-Born Children,” Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, June
2019, https://www.swp-berlin.org/fileadmin/contents/products/research_
papers/2019RP07_ada.pdf.
270
Bahar Baser, “Turkish-Kurdish Conflict Spills Over into Europe,”
The Conversation, October 16, 2015, https://theconversation.com/
turkish-kurdish-conflict-spills-over-into-europe-47610.
271
“War on Terror,” Daily Sabah, accessed December 30, 2020,
https://www.dailysabah.com/war-on-terror.
279
Sinan Balcikoca and Mirac Kaya, “Turkish Deputy PM Praises Anti-FETO Op
in Kosovo,” Anadolu Agency, April 2, 2019, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/
turkish-deputy-pm-praises-anti-feto-op-in-kosovo/1106396.
280
Satuk Bugra Kutlugun, “Suspected FETO Bankroller Returned to Turkey
from Sudan,” Anadolu Agency, November 21, 2017, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/
africa/suspected-feto-bankroller-returned-to-turkey-from-sudan/980800.
281
freedomhouse.org
71
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