Yet another woman detained due to Gülen links shortly after delivery


Date posted: August 1, 2017

Sultan Çetintaş, who gave birth on Monday to her third child in the Turkish province of İzmir, was detained on Tuesday over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement.

Çetintaş was taken to the courthouse with her one-day-old baby after undergoing a C-section.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) İstanbul deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu criticized the detention of the new mother on his social media account and asked Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım to end the practice.

“Sultan Çetintaş gave birth yesterday and was detained today, taken to the İzmir courthouse. Stop these inhuman practices,” said Tanrıkulu.

Tanrıkulu said in an another tweet later in the day that Çetintaş was released on judicial probation.

In the meantime, another victim of the witch-hunt, 22-month-old Hüma Sultan, whose mother was arrested on July 19, has to stay in prison with her mother despite a chronic fever.

Sultan’s father was arrested in December 2016.

According to a report prepared by CHP İstanbul deputy Gamze İlgezdi, since a coup attempt last year, 29 pregnant and new mothers have been arrested and more than 560 children have had to stay in prison with their mothers, unable to benefit from legal rights.

Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed 249 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch AKP government along with President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced on July 13 that 50,510 people have been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.

Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15.

 

Source: Turkish Minute , August 1, 2017


Related News

Post-Kemalist but still illiberal Turkey

Many, including myself, expected that the defeat of Kemalism by a broad coalition of liberals, democrats and conservatives under the political leadership of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) would lead to a democratic regime in Turkey with a liberal constitution. Yes, Kemalism is dead but its state-centric, Jacobin and illiberal sprit has been reincarnated in the ruling AK Party. The similarities in the attitude and the policies of the AK Party and its Kemalist predecessors are striking.

Parents Reject Decision to Shut Down Gülen-inspired Schools in Morocco

Zouhir Mohammed Kadour, the Director of the Mohammed Al-Fatih School, said, “We are shocked by the announcement of the Interior Ministry […] We’ve worked for the Al-Fatih School Group for 22 years. We followed the Moroccan curriculum, the Moroccan Ministry of Education program, and the school staff is Moroccan.”

Anti-democratic practices after graft probe reminiscent of Feb. 28 era

A number of anti-democratic moves that began after the launch of the corruption probe, including the reassignment of thousands of civil servants, including police officers and members of the judiciary, as well as discrimination against members of the faith-based Hizmet movement, are similar to the events of the Feb. 28 period.

Int’l scholars discuss ijtihad, qiyas at İstanbul symposium

Around 1,000 theologians, academics and opinion leaders from more than 100 countries gathered for a two-day symposium in İstanbul over the weekend to discuss the importance of ijtihad and qiyas in Islam.

New Constitution expected to eradicate remnants of Feb. 28 coup

Journalist Nazlı Ilıcak told Today’s Zaman that important steps have been taken to eradicate the remnants of Feb. 28 but Turkey needs to take more steps, via a new Constitution, to achieve overall democratization. However, Ilıcak noted that Turkey needs to take further steps towards democratization and settling its major problems, such as the Kurdish problem, through a new Constitution, which she said would contribute to make democratization permanent.

An Indian professor’s reflections on Erdogan’s visit to India, crackdown on Gulen movement

There has been no evidence of any terrorist activity by the followers of Gulen in any part of the world including Turkey. In India, they have been running their institutions: schools, coaching Institutes, and dormitories for more than 15 years, but none has been accused of any kind of terrorism and crime.

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

Does the Gülen (Hizmet) Movement Deny the Armenian Genocide?

Strategic defamation by Stratfor

‘We will not learn how to struggle against corruption from you’

Reflections on Hizmet Movement at conference in Taiwan

520 children of imprisoned mothers growing up in jail, yet Turkey celebrates Children’s Day

Turkey, The great purge – Four lives upturned by Erdogan’s ‘cleansing.’ Episode 1 – Asli

TV station won’t cover AK Party events due to harassment of reporter

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News