A Year Ago Today: Teacher Gökhan Açıkkollu died of torture on his 13th day in police custody


Date posted: August 5, 2017

Gökhan Açıkkollu, a history teacher suffering from diabetes, died of torture in police custody as part of a post-coup investigation into Turkey’s Gülen group, which the Turkish government accuses of masterminding a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Detained on July 23, 2016, Gokhan was a history teacher at a state-run high school in Istanbul’s Umraniye district. According to his father, Ayhan Açıkkollu, Gökhan was a diabetics patient while human rights defenders hinted at torture and maltreatment.

The 42-year-old teacher spent 13 days under detention before he died. His body was buried in a cemetery in the central Anatolian province of Konya while the local imam refused to lead the funeral ceremony. According to media, the family was not even provided a funeral coach for the transportation for 710 kilometers between Istanbul and Konya.

A video interview with the father on Aug 5, 2016, which was widely shared on social media on the first anniversary of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, reveals that the deceased teacher was not even given proper funeral service by the state-financed mosques.

The officials let the father bury his son only in the Traitors’ Cemetery, otherwise, the teacher’s body was not allowed in Istanbul, the grieved father tells during the video.

In the very aftermath of the failed coup, Kadir Topbas, the mayor of Istanbul’s metropolitan municipality, declared his intent to create a separate plot to bury the corpses of soldiers by saying: “I ordered a space to be saved and to call it ‘the graveyard for traitors.’ The passersby will curse the ones buried there. …Everyone visiting the place will curse them and they won’t be able to rest in their graves.”

 

Source: Turkey Purge , August 5, 2017

Tags: | | |


Related News

10 arrested for providing food and assistance to families of jailed Gülen followers

Ten out of 33 people who were detained in the western Turkish province of Manisa in early July have been arrested for providing aid to the families of alleged Gülen movement followers.

Governor’s office rejects Kimse Yok Mu’s application for aid campaign

The İstanbul Governor’s Office has rejected an application by the Kimse Yok Mu charity to conduct an aid campaign to help the families of victims killed in terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attacks.

Newly launched book tells stories of purge victims after Turkey’s July 15 coup

A recently published book tells the stories of people who, following a military coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, were victims of a government-led crackdown carried out under the pretext of an anti-coup fight.

Erdoğan gov’t abusing regulatory agencies to punish opponents

Pressuring state regulators to abuse their powers, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government has mounted an aggressive campaign to punish groups and companies that are critical of the government’s handling of a massive corruption investigation, which has led to questions about the credibility and independence of regulatory agencies in Turkey.

Threats and fear used to intimidate business world

In one of the eastern provinces, members of a business association believed to be close to the Hizmet movement, a CSO, were visited by the managers of another association that the government seeks to promote. They were told that a police operation might be launched against their association and that they would face serious tax audits and commercial problems if they continued their membership in their current association.

The Real Enemy Within Turkey

On the hot evening of August 20 in Gaziantep, Turkey, a still-unidentified person wearing an explosive vest laced with ball bearings navigated a series of narrow alleyways in the city’s Akdere neighborhood. He approached a wedding put on by a Kurdish family from Siirt; they were hosting a Henna night, a traditional ritual where the hands of the bride-to-be are tattooed with temporary ink. At 10:50 pm, the young man’s bomb exploded, killing 54 people. At least 31 were under the age of 18.

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

Slain prosecutor’s daughter: My father was not with Gülen movement

Turkey urges KRG to consider Gulen Movement a “Terrorist Organization”

Kimse Yok Mu launches campaign for Eid al-Adha with amusing banner

Editorial: Expulsion of Turk Teachers from Pakistan

Turkish FM Babacan visits Turkish high school in Tajikistan

Reports of en masse wiretappings denied by prosecutors

‘The work of Hizmet followers is really tackling the fundamentals of what is needed in the society’

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News