Arrested After Giving Birth: Turkey’s Post-coup Crackdown Reportedly Hits Maternity Wards


Date posted: August 1, 2017

In just over a year since a coup attempt failed to overthrow Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, over 50,000 have been arrested and 100,000 fired from their jobs in a government crackdown.

Politicians, activists and journalists have been key targets in the post-coup purge. Many of those detained have been accused of links to US-based Fethullah Gülen, blamed by Erdogan for ordering last year’s coup, a charge he denies.

Following the abortive putsch on July 15 2016, allegations of unfair trials, using torture in prisons and holding suspects without trial have been made against Erdogan’s government.

And now, it has been alleged that Turkey is arresting women accused of links to the Gülen movement immediately after they give birth.

Turkey Purge, a website set up to monitor post-coup rights abuses, claimed on Monday that in the last nine months, 17 women had been taken into Turkish police custody while pregnant or shortly after having a baby. Three of those arrests took place in the last week, the site suggested.

Sezgin Tanrıkulu, an MP from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) raised the issue in a series of tweets earlier on Monday, Turkey Purge reported.

A human rights lawyer specializing in defending Turkish Kurds, Tanrıkulu called on Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım to “stop sending police to hospital rooms to detain woman right after their babies are delivered.”

Tanrıkulu shared pictures of women he claimed had been arrested from their hospital beds in the last few days.

Sultan Çetintaş, reportedly arrested in İzmir after giving birth.

Rümeysa Doğan, allegedly arrested after her baby was born in an Antalya hospital.

He also reported that Ayşe Kaya from Edirne was sent to jail “as her four-day-old baby was given to its grandmother.”

These are in addition, Turkey Purge suggests, to similar arrests in January, May and June, including a case involving the mother of a week-old premature infant and multiple instances of mothers recovering from Cesarean procedures. Many of these were school teachers.

Recent Turkish Ministry of Justice data shows that more than 2,250 mothers are currently held in Turkish penal institutions, Turkey Purge reports. Among those, 520 are raising children under six in prison.

The Turkey Purge site is run by “a small group of young journalists who are trying to be the voice for Turkish people who suffer under an oppressive regime,” it claims. The website is banned in Turkey, and the journalists all contribute from outside of the country.

In an interview with the European Center for Press and Media Freedom, the group said that they do not have “editorial connection to anybody”, while indicating that their readership is mostly drawn from “Kurds, Gulenists, Alevis, leftists and LGBT activists”.

Source: Albawaba , August 1, 2017

Tags: | | | | |


Related News

49-member team to report to President Erdoğan on Gülen-linked trials

A group of 49 people, nine experts from Turkey’s State Inspection Council and 40 key advisers of President Tayyip Erdoğan, will closely monitor trials concerning the Gülen movement and submit reports to the president.

Lessons from Dec. 17: Who is parallel?

To prove whether the Gülen movement has a parallel structure , one has to establish that the investigations and wiretappings were not conducted within the scope of a legal investigation. If that is proven, one has to demonstrate that the police and prosecutors in charge of the investigations were receiving instructions not from the state but from sources within the movement. Both of these claims have to be proven with evidence.

Appeals court unanimously upholds Fethullah Gülen acquittal

METIN ARSLAN The Supreme Court of Appeals has upheld the acquittal of Fethullah Gülen, first issued by the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court. The 9th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals reached the decision unanimously, stating that there was no inconsistency in the ruling of the 11th High Criminal Court, adding that it […]

Turkey seeks three consecutive life sentences for Zaman journalists on coup charges

An indictment prepared by an İstanbul prosecutor seeks three consecutive life sentences for 30 individuals who include journalists and executives from the now-closed Zaman daily on coup charges. The daily, which was affiliated with the Gülen movement, was first seized by the Turkish government in March 2016 and the closed down in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

When lawlessness becomes a way of life

Erdogan also accused the movement of being behind several recent audio recordings posted on various social media networks that disclosed several conversations allegedly between himself and his son Bilal Erdoğan discussing how to get rid of large sums of money cached in their homes and those of their relatives.

‘Erdoğan signed MGK decisions to curb Gülen movement that Ecevit resisted’

Democratic Left Party (DSP) Chairman Masum Türker has said that controversial decisions made by the National Security Council (MGK) to curb the activities of the Gülen movement were ignored by former Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit in 2000 but signed by then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Aug. 25, 2004.

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

Who is Fethullah Gulen?

An Armenian lady, Hrant and April 24

Abant Platform raises support for EU process, criticism for parties

Sacred, Secular, Twin Tolerations and the Hizmet Movement

Turkey’s Erdogan Is Already Making the Most of His ‘Gift From Heaven’ After Coup Attempt

Canada grants asylum to eight Gulenists under UN protection in Mongolia

Court rules for release of Zaman chief editor, Samanyolu manager arrested

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News