During the attempted military coup in Turkey this month, I condemned it in the strongest terms. “Government should be won through a process of free a… - Fethullah Gülen

The latest victims of the clampdown are the staff, executives and editors of independent media organizations who were detained and are now facing charges made possible by recent changes to the laws and the court system. The director of one of the most popular TV channels, arrested in December, is still behind bars. Public officials investigating corruption charges have also been purged and jailed for simply doing their jobs. An independent judiciary, a functioning civil society and media are checks and balances against government transgressions. Such harassment sends the message that whoever stands in the way of the ruling party’s agenda will be targeted by slander, sanctions and even trumped-up charges.

The next day, the government produced lists of thousands of individuals whom they tied to Hizmet — for opening a bank account, teaching at a school or reporting for a newspaper — and treated such an affiliation as a crime and began destroying their lives. The lists included people who had been dead for months and people who had been serving at NATO’s European headquarters at the time. International watchdogs have reported numerous abductions, in addition to torture and deaths in detention. The government pursued innocent people outside Turkey, pressuring Malaysia, for instance, to deport three Hizmet sympathizers last week, including a school principal who has lived there for more than a decade, to face certain imprisonment and likely torture.

On the other hand, many countries did not succumb to Erdogan's blackmail, using bilateral relations as a bargaining chip. They did not touch the service volunteers and institutions in their country. They opened their doors and arms to refugees fleeing persecution in Turkey. Egypt, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, America, Canada, Australia and many other countries. I would like to remember this with gratitude.