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.
Turkey’s Brain Drain and the Disappearing Academic Freedom
Hasan was the luckiest because he was not in Turkey during the coup. He was studying abroad on July 15th and learned the coup through the Internet. He was supposed to go back to Turkey but he decided not to do so because of the news on the immense purging in mostly the government and some private institutions. Few days after the coup he learned that he was dismissed from his position at a state university.
The impact of corruption on elections
Yet, looking at the data in several recent surveys, including the AKP’s internal polling, the public does not seem to be buying the conspiracy theories any more, against the background of overwhelming evidence indicating massive wrongdoing in the government. The rushed decision by Erdoğan to reassign thousands of police officers and hundreds of prosecutors and judges as well as introducing controversial bills to reign in the judiciary have all reinforced the perception that Erdoğan and his people are deeply involved in corruption.
The system is the root cause of corruption
We have the perfect recipe for all kinds of corruption. The media has been silenced. It does not work as a watchdog, inspecting the government’s financial dealings. Parliament cannot inspect the government’s financial transactions. The Court of Accounts (Sayıştay) cannot inspect the government’s expenses. There are no internal mechanisms within the ruling party to make sure its leaders are accountable; there is only an infallible leader figure, and whatever he does, the party endorses it.
11th Int’l Turkish Olympiads kick off in İstanbul
The 11th International Turkish Olympiads, which is a festival celebrating the Turkish language and brings together 2,000 students from 140 countries this year, began in İstanbul on Wednesday. The event began with a news conference held in Atatürk Olympic Stadium attended by the Turkish deputy parliamentary speaker and International Turkish Language Olympiads organizing committee chairman, […]
Gulen-linked school manager released on bail by Tbilisi court
The manager of a private school linked to the exiled Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen was released on bail by a Tbilisi court on Monday. Mustafa Emre Cabuk was arrested in May, 2017 in what appeared to be a case of pressure exerted by Turkey on Georgian authorities to crack down on institutions associated with Fethullah Gülen.
Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?
Erdogan’s government has made Gulenists “the enemy you ascribe to everything that goes poorly in Turkey,” according to Henri Barkey, a fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
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