Turkish Dictator's Daughter Defends Press Purge at U.S. Islamic Convention

On Monday I reported here at PJ Media on the appearance of Sümeyye Erdoğan Bayraktar, daughter of Turkish Islamist dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the Muslim American Society (MAS)-Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) annual convention this week in Chicago.

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I noted that Ms. Bayraktar was speaking at the event as her father continued a massive purge of politicians, judges,  journalists, doctors, teachers, police officers, and the military following a botched coup this past July.

But as Chuck Ross at The Daily Caller reported yesterday, in her speech at the MAS-ICNA convention, she defended the widespread arrest of journalists by her father’s regime:

“The fact is, every person regardless of their profession has to face the full consequences of law if they have links to a terrorist organization or promote criminal terrorist propaganda,” she asserted.

“There is not one journalist in Turkey who has been imprisoned for journalistic activities nor for criticizing the president.”

Of all the journalists imprisoned around the world, one-third are in Erdogan’s prisons in Turkey:

Remarkably, she continued by calling Turkey “a beacon of democracy”:

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In response to our reporting on the event, the MAS-ICNA convention Twitter account blocked both Ross and me:

She also used her speech in Chicago to attack the supporters of her father’s stated enemy (and former ally) Fethullah Gulen, going so far as to claim that they were worse than the Islamic State:

Again, from Ross’ report from the MAS-ICNA convention yesterday:

Bayraktar spent the second half of her speech railing against the Gulen movement, which she referred to as FETO, the Fethullah Terrorist Organization.

“FETO is actually more dangerous than Daesh,” she said, using another name for ISIS.

“It is easier to turn some hopeless, desperate, uneducated youth into militants. They have little to lose. If someone comes and promises them paradise, they may give it a try. FETO takes possession of the minds and hearts of well-educated doctors, engineers, generals, scientists, etc.”

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Meanwhile, back at home, her father publicly accused the U.S. of supporting the Islamic State — going so far as to claim to have video proof, a claim that a State Department spokesman flatly denied:

Speaking of supporting terrorism, HAMAS head Khaled Meshaal was visiting Turkey yesterday as well:

The U.S. designated Hamas a terrorist organization since 1995.

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