‘No more Turkish Olympics for the individual in Pennsylvania,’ PM says

ISTANBUL

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan salutes the crowd during a rally in his hometown of Rize, March 21. AA photo

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said his old-ally and new-nemesis, U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, will not be allowed to organize his annual Turkish Olympics in Turkey again.

“They won’t be able to organize the Turkish Olympics anymore. That’s over now. Renting a hall from us … The subject is closed,” Erdoğan said during a rally in the eastern province of Erzurum March 21,
addressing the movement of Gülen, whom he referred to as “the individual in Pennsylvania.”

The Turkish Olympics is a major event for the movement, which takes place in huge stadiums and arenas every year and is participated in by foreign students attending Gülen’s schools from all over the world.

Erdoğan, who accuses Gülen for orchestrating the graft probes against the government and leaking wiretapped recordings, has gradually increased its rhetoric against the Islamic scholar in recent months.

“There are montages and dubbings, is that so? Don’t worry, we are overcoming all this,” he said, a day after the government moved to block access to Twitter.

The ban on the popular micro-blogging site, which has over 10 million of user accounts in Turkey, has capped the increasing outcry within the Turkish society against the government following the brutal crackdown of the Gezi protests and the graft scandal.