4-year-old visits dad in jail on Children’s Day wearing T-shirt with newborn brother’s picture


Date posted: April 24, 2017

We can all pack up and go home because a 4-year-old has just rendered Turkey’s Children’s Day meaningless.

Minutes before paying a visit to her jailed father early on Sunday morning, H.A. was photographed in front of Sakarya L Type Prison wearing a T-shirt bearing a photo of her newborn baby brother.

She couldn’t bring the infant himself to visit due to regulations; therefore, his photo was printed on her T-shirt to show the imprisoned father his newborn son.

The father was reportedly arrested as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement, which is accused of masterminding a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

The movement denies any involvement.

However, the government has so far investigated around 90,000 people and jailed more than 47,000 over links to the group. Prisoners in such investigations include teachers, doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, students, plumbers, football players, actors and even a comedian.


Related News

Democracy on the rocks in Turkey

Last week’s military coup attempt in Turkey is likely to have a debilitating impact on Turkish democracy. Already, several thousand military officials and bureaucrats have been arrested. Even more perturbing, more than 2,000 judges were removed from their jobs.

UN asks Turkey to compensate businessman arrested in post-coup crackdown

The United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has called on Turkish government to compensate a businessman who spent some 3 months in prison over his alleged links to the Gulen movement.

Turkish-Arab forum focuses on gov’t oppression on Hizmet

Discussing the recent developments in Turkey and the Muslim world during the “Arab-Turkish Intellectuals Forum” in İstanbul on Tuesday, a scholar from Egypt likened the smear campaign conducted by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan against the Hizmet movement to the suppression of a civic movement in Egypt.

Islamic scholar Gülen sues interior minister over coup accusation

“Making efforts to set people up against one another and stir hostility by expressing those words is a behavior morally unacceptable,” lawyer Nurullah Albayrak said.

Back to school in Turkey after post-coup teacher purge

As more than 18 million children began the new term after the summer break, Huseyin Ozev, president of the Istanbul teachers’ union, told AFP there were fears the academic year would begin with “chaos” because of huge staff shortages.

Infiltrating or contributing?

None of the academics in attendance reported finding any sign of attempts by movement members to overthrow democracy or even to “grab a bigger share of the pie” for a new elite, shady or otherwise.

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

A new ring to the chain of Turkish schools in Kyrgyzstan

Cancer patient arrested over Gülen links shortly after surgery

Turkey’s post-coup crackdown hits ‘Gulen schools’ worldwide

Reflections on a Hizmet-inspired school in Tanzania

Targeted by Erdoğan, Turkish schools earn praise, offer success abroad

Fethullah Gülen’s Eid message: Let’s pray for each other

70-year-old intending Hajj pilgrim detained on coup charges at airport

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News