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

Local Turks [in Chicago] fear for safety of friends, family overseas after failed coup

“You see the pictures, ears cut off, eyes are bruised and noses are broken; they’re putting those pictures out,” Parlak said. “(Erdogan is) saying to the whole world, ‘I have the power and I’m going to do anything in my power and nobody can stop me,’ and that’s the part that is scary.”

Police raid Gülen-inspired schools in Adana despite ministry regulation

The Adana Police Department early on Thursday coordinated with inspectors from several ministries and other institutions to conduct raids on private schools, dormitories and prep schools established by volunteers inspired by the Gülen movement, despite regulations stating that only the Education Ministry may perform such inspections.

Turkey’s Ongoing Crackdown: nearly 13,000 police officers suspended for alleged links to the Gulen movement

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suspended nearly 13,000 police officers over suspected links to Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric Turkey says is responsible for the July 15 coup attempt. Erdogan’s critics believe he has used the coup as an opportunity to crack down on his political opposition. Erdogan was often accused of trying to silence critics.

Hate towards Hizmet Movement as a political strategy

The Hizmet movement has broad support from every walk of life in the country. A very popular civic movement, many groups are sympathetic to the cause of the Hizmet. So, the image of the Hizmet had to be turned upside down.

Erdoğan’s allegations proven to be incorrect, contradictory over time

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has over time turned out to be wrong or self-contradictory in his allegations over a number of issues in the past few years, which has cast doubts on his credibility as well as the credibility of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in the eyes of the people.

Turkey confiscates $billions worth more than 200 companies in operations targeting Gülen

The government-run Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) has taken over more than 200 companies as part of investigations into the Gülen movement in the recent past. Akın İpek, the CEO of Koza İpek Holding until the confiscation, said 18 of the group’s confiscated companies alone worth over $10 billion.

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

Turkish anti-terrorism police carried out raids in six cities, detaining at least five people with alleged links to al-Qaida

Twelve questions Turkey’s journalists can’t ask

Mothers, fathers crying and praying due to extensive victimization

Call for paper for “International Family Policy Conference”

Kyrgyz President Atambayev: Turkish schools will not be closed

Fethullah Gülen’s Lawyers: Gülen Movement Has No Link With Zarrab Case In US

119 people in Turkey died due to crackdown on Gülen movement in 2019 (430 people died since 2016)

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News