History teacher gives birth to her third child in prison
Date posted: June 29, 2017
Under arrest as part of an investigation into the Gulen movement since Nov 3, 2016, history teacher Özlem Meci gave birth to her third child in prison.
A mother of two, Özlem delivered her third child, named Murat, on Feb 15, 2017 but her requests for trial without arrest have remained inconclusive so far.
A former lecturer at a preparatory school established by followers of the movement in Ardahan Özlem was arrested on charge of attempting to demolish constitutional order and of membership to a terrorist organization.
The government accuses of masterminding the July 15, 2016 coup attempt and considers it as a terrorist organization. The group denies both involvement in the failed coup and terror charges.
“As far as I know, it is against our Constitution to keep women in prison after they turn the 6th month in pregnancy,” Özlem told the prosecutor’s office in a letter, dated Nov 23, 2016.
Özlem and Murat have been staying at Aliaga prison in the western province of Izmir.
According to recent data released by the Ministry of Justice, more than 2,250 mothers are held in penal institutions, of whom 520 are obliged to raise their 0 to 6-year-old children in prison.
The high-profile officials — whose involvement in bribery and corruption have been disclosed with much media coverage — and those who protect and abet them do not care about how they will be remembered by future generations. They do not feel ashamed about the positions they adopt, and they shamelessly proceed to give the impression of siding with “robbers” in the cops vs. robbers confrontation.
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Zeynalov reminded the attendees that Erdogan also was arrested a couple of decades ago. That eventually helped him to become famous and won him the elections five years later. But it didn’t stop Erdogan to use the same law for justifying the arrest of Zeynalov in 2014.
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Turkish President Abdullah Gul approved on Wednesday a law closing private preparatory schools, many of which are a source of income and influence for an Islamic cleric accused by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of seeking to topple him.
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