Veteran who lost legs in PKK attack removed from civil service over Gulen links


Date posted: September 19, 2016

A Kırıkkale man who lost his both legs in a PKK attack while doing military service in the eastern province of Bingöl, has been sacked from a state institution after authorities found out that private colleges linked to Gülen Movement granted scholarship to his children.

The movement stands accused of orchestrating the July 15 coup attempt despite its successive denials. The government meanwhile carries out an ever-growing witch-hunt against any individual allegedly suspected of being linked to the movement.

Harun İpek, a 41-year-old father of four, lost his two legs after he stepped on a mine planted by the outlawed PKK in 2001. He served as a public worker at Kırıkkale branch of the Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks until he was fired.

“My children used to be proud of being children of a veteran. Now they are seen as infidels. …I have not been told about the underlying reason [for my removal]. Due to the reasons beyond my control, I sent my children to such schools for seven years in freely-granted veteran-quota,” İpek said.

More than 100,000 people have been either sacked or suspended from state institutions over their alleged links to the movement so far.

Source: Turkey Purge , Sep 18, 2016


Related News

Mothers meet in İstanbul to mark Mother’s Day, see their children

A mother, Vera Stamova from Moldova, expressed similar feelings. “My two children study in Turkey. My younger daughter studied in Turkish schools [in Moldova]. She received a quality education. I love Turkey and I have great confidence in Turkish people. If I had another child, I would also send her to Turkey. I miss them a lot, but they are very lucky and are taken good care of here,” she said.

Caucasus analyst Öztarsu: Only dialogue can solve Turkish, Armenian problems

YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN, İSTANBUL Though Turkey’s relations with Armenia have been strained by a number of historical and political issues, a Turkish Caucasus analyst who lived and studied in Armenia points out in his new book that only dialogue can solve problems. “There is a great panorama of civil society activities, and I can say […]

Erdogan blackmails President-Elect Trump

“Turkey desperately wants the U.S. government to extradite an imam [Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen],” Maddow explained. “They [the U.S.] have said that they are not extraditing him. But if that’s what you wanted, what if you could squeeze the personal financial interests of the American president as a way to get what you want from the American government?”

HRW: 6 Turks taken from Kosovo to Turkey face risk of torture and abuse

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, on Saturday tweeted that six Turkish nationals who were arrested by Kosovar police on Thursday and apparently spirited out of the country by Turkish intelligence later in the day would face the risk of torture and abuse in Turkey.

Nearly 500 police officials reassigned in Ankara, İzmir

Erdoğan has reacted furiously to the corruption investigation, decrying an attempted “judicial coup” his supporters see as orchestrated by the Hizmet movement. He has reassigned thousands of police officers, more than a hundred judges and prosecutors, and purged official bodies of executives he suspects of being close to Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Fethullah Gülen’s Message of Condolences and Condemnation of the Terrorist Attack in Istanbul

Fethullah Gülen: I condemn, in the strongest terms, the cruel terrorist attack carried out beside the Istanbul Beşiktaş Football Stadium that cost the lives of 44 of Turkish citizens, the majority of whom are members of the security forces.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Terrorist organization seeks to fill void in Southeast after closure of prep schools

Congratulations to Fethullah Gulen and Izzettin Dogan

The Gulen Movement has become Turkey’s most significant export

Clergy share ideals as source of peace

Media freedom in Turkey takes another blow

Erdoğan escalates elimination of Gülenists from state [ with no proof of accusations]

Needy Romanians provided with aid by students of Turkish school

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News