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

Patrick Poole | 8:27 AM on December 28, 2016

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.

Advertisement

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”:

Advertisement

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.”

Advertisement

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.

Patrick Poole
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]

Patrick Poole is a national security and terrorism correspondent for PJMedia. Follow him on Twitter.
Category: HOMELAND SECURITY
Tags: HOMELAND SECURITY

Recommended

This Government Move Against North Carolina Hurricane Relief Workers Was No Accident Victoria Taft
Oh, SNAP! Germany Has a New Way to Defend Yourself Against Machete-Wielding Migrants Stephen Green
Trump Announces New Tax Proposal, and It's Pretty Awesome Matt Margolis
Vance: Illegal Aliens Crowd U.S. Millennials Out of Housing Market Catherine Salgado
The Biggest Climate Whopper Ever Told Rick Moran
More Than a Political Stripe, MAGA Is a Now Movement Kevin Downey Jr.

Trending on PJ Media Videos

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Advertisement
Trending
Editor's Choice
Kruiser's 'BTB': Super-Duper Educated Democrats Sure Do Love Their Village Idiots
Melinda Gates’ Fake ‘Philanthropy’ and Her Real Unforgiveable Hypocrisy
NPR vs. ‘Fight Club,’ ‘The Matrix’
Advertisement