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For decades Turkey was a dutiful ally that mostly followed America’s lead, but the nations today does not much like its 20^th. That is because Turkish President Erdogan and his government, led by the governing Islamic AKP, has asserted a more independent foreign policy in the Middle East, which often puts it at odds with the EU and in Washington. The crisis in the Turkish and U.S relationship goes much deeper than the issue of the cult leader Gulen’s alleged role in the recent coup and the demand for his extradition. Turkey and America sharply disagree over the strategy for how to bring peace in Syria and to stop ISIS. President Erdogan argues that the United States has allied with a Syrian Kurdish group known as the YPG or People’s Protection Units, which Turkey wrongly accuses of being a terrorist group. For its part Turkey has been shelling both Kurdish fighters of the popular protection units (YPG) and ISIS. The YPG is one of the most effective forces in the fight against ISIS. Turkey is wrongfully accusing the YPG of being an extension of the Kurdish Worker Party (PKK), a Kurdish rebel group that has been fighting for basic rights for more than four decades. The ceasefire between Turkey and the PKK ended last year and clashes have since claimed hundreds of lives on both sides. Turkey is fighting against the Kurds inside Turkey, as Syrian Kurds continue to try to have a self-declared autonomous region known as Rojava. There have been disagreements over the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, Turkey’s relations with Iran and, among other things. Critics of Turkey have questioned Turkey’s sincerity as a NATO ally including its refusal to fight against ISIS in the past. Continue reading →

President Rodrigo Duterte harshly criticized the United Nations after it demanded an end to the wave of killings unleashed by his war on drugs, saying he might leave the organization. The UN human rights experts last week urged Duterte to stop the extra-judicial executions and slayings that have escalated since Duterte won the presidency by promising a drug free Philippines. Speaking of the UN, Duterte retorted, “I will prove to the world that you are a very stupid expert,” urging it to count not just the number of drug-related deaths but also the innocent lives lost to drugs.Dealing with the drug users and protecting human rights are two aspects of one problem. His dealing with drug dealers safeguards human rights. The UN human rights expert failed to understand that the Philippine Constitution and laws clearly stipulate that citizens enjoy freedom of speech, assembly, and belief, and they are protected while exercising these rights, but Philippine law also stipulates that when citizens are enjoying their rights of freedom, they must not harm society or the rights of other citizens. Freedom cannot undermine Philippine public security, safety, order, health, or morality. Continue reading →

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Multiculturalism has become a challenge for most countries with fragmented societies. In a global village with international order, many countries are now confronted with the task of bringing together and holding together multicultural societies. One of the classic challenges of political organizations is the decision regarding territorial or divisional power. There are three ways to organize power among national, state, and local governments: unitary, confederal, and federal. Unitary government concentrates almost all government power into a single national government; a confederal system disperses government power to regional or local governments. The federal system, also known as federalism, divides power between national and state governments. Under federalism, each level of government is independent and has its own powers and responsibilities. Often it is not clear whether a state or national government has jurisdiction on a particular matter because at times the national and state governments alternate between cooperating and competing with each other.Under the unitary systems are those in which sovereignty, decision-making authority, and revenue raising powers are solely vested in a single central government. Sub-national units may exist in unitary systems of government, but they can be revoked by the central government. A majority of countries around the world have unitary systems of government. For example, France, Japan, and China have unitary governments, but Great Britain is an example of a unitary state that has devolved its limited powers to a series of regional assemblies, such as Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, three countries that exist without being coalesced into a federation. Continue reading →

According to estimates, more than 4 million people gathered in the Yeni Kapi area of Istanbul, making August 7, 2016, a historic date for the Turkish people. The President, leaders of the opposition political parties, the Speaker of the Parliament, top generals, senior judges, non-governmental organizations, and celebrities were all at Yeni Kapi Square to stand united for democracy, freedom, and rule of law and against theocracy. Ultimately, they were protesting the July 15th coup attempt by the religion cult leader Fetullah Gulen. This rally put an end to three weeks of demonstrations following the failed takeover. In this rare event the highest number of participants and the leaders of three political parties responded to a call made by President Erdogan by leaving their political differences and taking the stage. Thus, July 15th was a milestone for Turkey because of the Turkish people’s strong stance against the coup in which soldiers paid with the cost of their lives.No party flags or banners were present except the Turkish flag. It was not a picture that perpetrators of the failed coup attempt–members of religious cult of Fethullah Gulen–wanted to see. It was not a good picture for Gulenists’ Terror Organization (FETO) because the failed coup attempt unified a polarized Turkey. Before the coup Turkish society was completely polarized, but Gulen’s terror organization unified the nation. The Turkish government was surrounded by the two failed states of Iraq and Syria, and was fighting a war with the Kurdish guerillas, ISIS, and the cult religion of the Fethullah Gulen movement. Continue reading →

On July 15^th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against the Turkish people. The Turkish people have known military coups, and they have known the casualties of freedom, but never has the Parliament been bombed, fighter jets flown low over Turkish cities to intimidate its citizens, and never before have hundreds of people been killed. The night fell on a different Turkey where freedom itself was under attack. The Turkish people have many questions. They are asking who is behind the failed coup in their country and who killed more than 245 innocents. All the evidence that the Turkish government has gathered points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as the Fethullah Gulen movement. They are the same murderers indicted for their involvement in many other criminal acts in Turkey, and the ones who have had the secular military as well as Kurds imprisoned.Gulen is a terrorist; what the mafia is to crime, his organization is to terrorism. But his goal is remaking the world and imposing his cultic beliefs on people around the world. The Gulenist cult movement perverts the teaching of Islam to fit his way of Islam. According to the Turkish government, Gulen’s directive commanded his infiltrators to kill President Erdogan and those closely associated with him. This group and its leader, a imam named Fethullah Gulen who resides in Pennsylvania in the US, are linked to many other organizations around the world, including some in the Philippines. There are thousands of these groups in more than 163 countries. They opened schools, universities, NGOs, business establishments, sport clubs, media outlets that they use to disseminate his cult ideology. The followers are sent back to their home countries or sent to hide in foreign countries around the globe to plot evil and destruction, if necessary to achieve his end. Continue reading →

Turkey is not a stranger to coups; the Turkish democracy has gone through many interruptions due to myriad coups. Turkey has faced one every ten years. In 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 1997, and 2007, Turkey encountered military interventions. In the past the secular military executed the coups against Islamic threat in order to maintain the secular principles of Turkey‘s founder, Kemal Ataturk, but this time an Islamic cult executed a coup d’état in order to maintain his cultic ideology and to take control over Turkey. There is no doubt this coup was an attempt by Fethullah Gulen and his followers in the military.For more than forty years Gulen has been working on infiltrating his followers into military schools. Gulen’s followers operated Kulleli Asker Lisesi. When they graduate from the military school, they have direct access to Gulen, because these military students are special for him. Only Gulen’s close circle knows the number or the positions of these military placements. Those who are in the military and in the police force will go through special training by Gulen learning how to infiltrate into the military and how not to reveal their identity. The problem is that Gulen has not only infiltrated Turkish armed forces schools, but other countries’ armed forces schools as well. For example, a Muslim chaplain in the American army and one in the Canadian military are Gulen’s followers. In the former Soviet country of Azerbaijan the military chief-of-staff is also a Gulenist, but if asked directly, they all will say that they are not followers of Gulen because they are trained to lie for their brand of Islam. The Muslim who is involved in the Islamic desk for the Obama administration, Dalia Mogahed, was John Esposito ‘s student from Georgetown University, and John Esposito is the biggest supporter of Gulen in the U.S. In addition, a significant number of Gulen’s followers are working as military attachés overseas. Continue reading →

Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 and injured 53 others at the Orlando gay nightclub. According to Omar’s friends and his ex-wife, Omar was a gay. It raises questions about what Islam’s view on homosexuality is and about the double life of Muslims. However, most Muslims will argue that it is not possible to be gay and be a Muslim because homosexuality is against Islam. Islam is very clear about homosexuality and prohibits homosexual acts. According to the story of the people of Lut or Lot in the Quran, which is similar to the story as shared in the Old Testament of the Bible, Allah destroyed an entire nation due to their obscene behavior, which included rampant homosexuality. According to Islam, everything has been created in pairs that complement each another. The pairing of male and female is thus part of human nature and the natural order.This does not mean there are no homosexuals in Muslim countries. The vast majority of Muslims struggle between two forces: a religious community or household that they grow up in and the haram (forbidden) environment. On the one hand, the individual is given a set of Islamic rules to follow and is consistently judged by the Muslim community and his or her family by those Quranic laws, and, on the other hand, the same person is attracted to the worldly life. So when the two forces collide, it leads to many Muslims living a double life as in the case of Omar Mateen, who was fasting, praying, trying to be perfect, and living as a good person in the eyes of his parents and the Muslim community while smoking, partying, and going to a gay nightclub outside his home. Continue reading →