Next in line on Erdogan's warpath: Naughty Islamists
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is cracking down on Islamists — even peaceful ones — who fail to applaud him.
![93776423 ISTANBUL, TURKEY - DECEMBER 11: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to press after visiting the wounded police officers of the bomb attacks at Haseki Hospital in Istanbul December 11, 2016 Turkey. According to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, at least 38 people were killed and 166 other wounded in twin explosions outside Besiktas FC's Vodafone Arena Stadium and in nearby Macka Park a few hours after the night's soccer match on 10 December. The bombs apparently targeted police officers who were se](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2017/03/GettyImages-629090698.jpg/GettyImages-629090698.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=D1eQeRIg)
Every year in early March, the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir's branch in Turkey holds an international conference to commemorate the Ottoman caliphate, which was abolished in 1924.
This year’s conference, set for March 5 in Istanbul, was to be titled “Why Does the World Need the Caliphate?” Mahmut Kar, media bureau chief of Hizb ut-Tahrir Turkey, had applied for permission from local authorities to hold the conference under the standard procedure. Yet on March 1, news broke that Kar and one of his colleagues, Osman Yildiz, were taken into custody.