Human Tragedies of Turkey’s Purge
40-day-old baby, mother under police custody for 4 days: opposition deputy
A Turkish woman who gave birth to her baby 40 days ago, has been kept under police custody along with her newborn over the past four days, according to main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu. “Today marks UN’s Childrens’ Rights Day;...
Mother of three suffers heart attack as husband under arrest for 15 months
Rana Ozturk, a mother of three children and the wife of Engin Ozturk who has been under arrest for 15 months over alleged ties to the Gulen movement, suffered a heart attack, media reported on Nov 18. Engin, a former employee of the now-defunct International Antalya...
22 dismissed public servants open restaurant in Diyarbakır
A group of public servants who were fired from their jobs with decrees issued by the Turkish gov’t in the aftermath of last year’s coup attempt, has opened a restaurant in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. According to the Haberdar news portal, the 22...
Heart attack strikes Kırklareli electrician jailed on coup charges — claim
Birol Kay, an electrician who was arrested in early August 2016 on coup charges, was allegedly rushed to the hospital with a heart attack on Thursday. A social media user with the username “@demokrat342” on Thursday took to Twitter to claim that Kaywho has been held...
Mother of baby with congenital heart defect arrested on coup charges
A social media user with the username "@sercancan32151" on Tuesday took to Twitter to claim that the woman in the photo above has recently been arrested and sent to a Turkish prison on coup charges. According to the twitter user, the woman had a baby with congenital...
15-year-old girl to be removed from foster family over Gülen links
A 15-year-old girl, identified only by her given name Sevgi, has been ordered to be separated from her foster family as her adoptive father has been briefly arrested over alleged ties to the Gulen movement. Adopted when she was only 5 years old, Sevgi now faces going...
WATCH: Emotional reunion of son, journalist father after 174 days in Turkish prison
When a 15-year-old boy finally got to see his imprisoned journalist father again, cameras were rolling, and so were the tears. Five months ago, his father Gökmen Ulu, a reporter for Turkey's Sözcü daily, was put in pre-trial detention. After all their time apart, the...
Gov’t grants poverty certificate to purge-victim businessman after seizing his company
Taner Nakıboğlu, the owner of government-seized Naksan Holding, a Turkey-based packing company, said during a hearing on Tuesday that before his company was confiscated, he was the richest businessmen in Gaziantep province; yet his family now lives on the breadline....
12-year-old diagnosed with cancer amid grief for jailed father
Muhammed Eray Özkul, the 12-year-old son of the Zonguldak-based former police officer Ender Özkul, has been diagnosed with cancer after his father was jailed in Turkish government’s post-coup dragnet. The father worked as a police officer for 15 years until he was...
Imprisoned journalist Şahin Alpay: They know we have been wronged
Dr. Şahin Alpay, one of 280 journalists currently in Turkish prisons, expressed thanks to politicians and local and foreign colleagues who have objected to the unfair arrest and imprisonment of journalists and writers in Turkey, in the first letter he has been able to...
Police wait outside delivery room to detain woman who just gave birth
A group of police officers are reportedly waiting outside the delivery room in Ankara Private Middle East Hospital in order to detain Ü. Monos, who just gave birth, according to a tweet posted by @magdurmesajiTr. According to the tweet, Monos is an english teacher and...
55-year-old leukemia patient says looking after grandchildren as daughter, son behind bars over Gülen links
The 55-year-old mother of an imprisoned Turkish woman said in a Twitter video that she has been left to look after her grandchildrens after the Turkish government imprisoned her daughter as well as her son over alleged links to the Gülen group, which the government...
22-month with Down Syndrome in prison along with mother, jailed in post-coup probe
A 22-month-old child who suffers from Down Syndrome is living in jail along with his mother after both his mother and father were imprisoned in Konya over alleged links to the Gülen movement, a report said on Saturday. According to AktifHaber.com website, prison...
İstanbul woman suffers miscarriage in police custody: report
Büşra Atalay, a Turkish woman who has previously been dismissed from her job over alleged Gülen links, lost her unborn child when she was detained and interrogated at an İstanbul hospital on Thursday. Atalay was detained by police at İstanbul Pendik Yüzyıl Hospital on...
![[VIDEO] Police officer, suspended under post-coup emergency rule, commits suicide](../../wp-content/uploads/2017/09/aa-4-400x250.jpg)
[VIDEO] Police officer, suspended under post-coup emergency rule, commits suicide
Ibrahim Eski, a 31-year-old police officer who was suspended from his job due to his alleged links to the Gülen movement, committed suicide on Tuesday. Failed to hear from the father of two for a while, Eski’s relatives broke into his home in Sakarya where they found...
Man held in custody for days despite lack of detention warrant: brother
A Turkish man named Faysal Ugar has been held in police custody since September 22 despite lack of an existing detention warrant about him, according to a tweet posted by the man’s brother, Engi Ugar. “My brother, Faysal Ugar, left yesterday for Friday prayer. They...
Daughter of deceased jurist says parliamentarians, newspapers ignored calls for help
Buket Erdoğan, the daughter of the recently-deceased jurist Mustafa Erdoğan said the deputies as well as the newspapers she tried to reach out to help her father ignored her calls. A former Supreme Court of Appeals member, Erdoğan was imprisoned over links to the...
Sacked in post-coup purge, teacher of 18 years working as beekeeper for living
Hatayi Demir, an elementary school teacher until she was dismissed by a government decree issued under post-coup emergency rule last year, is now earning her keep by working as a beekeeper in a village in Tunceli province. According to Duvar news portal, Demir was...
Nurse with 21 years of experience working at tobacco farm after dismissal
Fatma Turan, a 44-year-old nurse who was dismissed under Turkey’s post-coup purge of state institutions, has been working at a tobacco farm to earn her family’s living. Turan was removed from her job along with her husband Özdemir Aydin, also a hospital worker, under...
Cancer survivor teacher under arrest as disabled daughter shows anxiety
Muharrem Sağlar, a Bingöl-based former teacher who was retired after he survived colon cancer, has been under arrest for more than 5 months and his daughter, a 100 hundred disabled girl shows anxiety as she misses her father. According to a video recording posted on...
Woman says she miscarried baby due to stress under police custody
A Turkish woman, whose identity remains anonymous, has said in a recent video recording that she miscarried her baby due to the stress she experienced under custody. The details about the video, recently shared by social media accounts that often make postings on...
‘My father left to die of liver cancer under arrest,’ says son of purge-victim academic
“My father has been diagnosed with liver cancer and needs immediate treatment. He is now being kept at the detention ward of İzmir Training and Research Hospital. Neither my mother nor anyone else is allowed to keep him company. All I want is to see him free and...
Computer science professor, jailed in post-coup sweep, gets cancer diagnosis in prison
Under arrest for 13 months over links to the Gulen movement, Ahmet Turan Özcerit, an associate professor at Sakarya University’s Faculty of Computer and Information Science until he was dismissed, has been diagnosed with cancer in his liver and intestines. Özcerit was...
Police waiting at hospital to detain Kayseri woman after childbirth: report
Turkish police have been waiting inside Kayseri-based Tekden Hospital to detain Zeynep Toptaş, who just gave birth to her child, over alleged links to the Gülen movement, according to media on Sept 3. According to TR724 online news outlet, Toptaş faces detention...
Jailed jurist’s daughter says ostracised by university professors, classmates until father is dead
Buket Erdoğan, the daughter of the recently-deceased, former Supreme Court of Appeals member Mustafa Erdoğan said her lecturers as well as classmates would pretend not to see her at the university until her father passed away last week. Imprisoned as part of the...
Kirklareli man arrested while visiting elder brother in prison
A Kirklareli man, identified as M.B., was detained while he was visiting his elder brother, Ş.B., who has been under arrest over links to the Gülen movement in a prison in the province, on Aug 26. According to Turkish media, an arrest warrant had been earlier issued...
Adana woman faces detention just after giving birth as police await at hospital
Turkish police are waiting at Adana Avrupa Hospital to detain Elif Açıkgöz, who just gave birth by cesarean section, over alleged links to the Gülen movement, which is accused by the Turkish government of mounting a botched coup attempt last summer, Samanyolu haber...
Disabled public servant caught in scam while trying to avoid ByLock accusations
Mine Yaşar, a 36-year-old disabled civil servant in Erzurum’s Yakutiye district got her 6 gold coins racketeered by swindlers who told her that she was going to be subjected to police investigation over her alleged use of ByLock. Yaşar was told during an anonymous...
73-year-old says looking after grandchildren as teacher daughter, son-in-law behind bars
The 73-year-old mother of jailed teacher, Ayşe Çakır, says she has been left to look after her grandchildren after the government imprisoned her daughter as well as the son-in-law. “A year ago, my daughter gave birth to her child. As soon as her husband drove them...
Dismissed nurse commits suicide over psychological problems
Sevgi Balci, an Isparta-based mother of three and a 37-year old nurse who was dismissed from her position as part of the government’s post-coup crackdown, committed suicide on Aug 15. According to a local news outlet, Balci hanged herself at her home in Çünür...
Dismissed police officer commits suicide reportedly over debts
Durmuş Ali Çetin, a former police officer who was dismissed from his job by government decree 10 months ago, was found dead at his home in İstanbul on Saturday, apparently having committed suicide. According to the Doğan news agency, Çetin fell into a depression after...
Yet another woman faces detention at hospital immediately after giving birth
Police are waiting outside a room in Ankara Memorial Hospital to detain Feyza Yazıcı, who gave birth to a premature baby on Friday, as part of the Turkish government’s witch-hunt against the Gülen movement, which is accused of being behind a failed coup last year....
59-year-old man dies after falling down stairs while in police custody
A 59-year-old man reportedly fell to his death down a set of stairs on his 13th day in police custody in the southern province of Antalya. According to a Twitter account named “Antalya Mağdurları,” Davut Türkel, was detained early on July 13 on charges of alleged...
Woman sent to prison on coup charges hours after surgery: report
Ayşe Bulut Yanılma, a female teacher who used to work at a prep-school affiliated with Turkey’s Gülen group, has been arrested by a Turkish court hours after she had a surgery at a Kocaeli hospital. According to Aktifhaber news portal, Yanılma, a mother to three...
BBC: Women with 6-month-old infants in jail due to emergency rule in Turkey
Hundreds of women are in pretrial detention in jails across Turkey with their infants, some of them less than six months old, due to a state of emergency declared after a failed coup last year, a BBC Turkish report said on Friday. Conducting interviews with three...
Jailed banker suffers from psychological disorders in solitary confinement: family
Nurettin Aytuğ, the manager of the Erbil branch of the government-closed Bank Asya who has been under arrest over a year, has developed psychological disorders in prison, according to his family. Aytuğ’s family members told Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) that he...