Another Police Chief Jailed Over Alleged Gülen Links Dies In Turkish Prison


Date posted: August 5, 2017

Fifty-two-year-old Ahmet Tatar, a police chief who was arrested as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement in Osmaniye province, has died in prison, the TR724 website has reported.

According to the Thursday report, the administration of Osmaniye Prison said Tatar died of a heart attack after he was taken to Osmaniye State Hospital on Tuesday when he complained of pain in his chest.

Tatar retired in 2015 as chief of the Diyarbakır Police Department’s traffic division.

A total of 29 individuals, among whom are police officers, prosecutors and teachers, have been found dead in Turkish prisons since a failed coup attempt last year, causing serious concern about the fate of thousands of civilians who are being kept in jail in poor conditions across the country.

In April, Kadir Eyce, a 33-year-old police officer who was jailed due to alleged links to the Gülen movement, died, several weeks after he was released from prison due to health problems.

Pictures posted on social media by Eyce’s family also revealed the extent of the ill-treatment against the jailed police officer.

Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch AKP government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip 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: Stockholm Center for Freedom , August 3, 2017


Related News

Turks Fleeing Persecution Find Haven in South Africa

Gulenist businessman Nevi Gozur says he has been denounced as a terrorist for the charity work his family does with Hizmet in exile. “They say even my wife is a terrorist, for giving food to the poor, but we won’t renounce living according to our values,” he said.

Who is the winner?

The Gülen community is a movement of volunteers. The real reason for the row is not the community’s attempt to meddle in politics. It is due to its sheer size and public image. As he did with other groups or communities, Erdoğan sought to take full control of the Hizmet movement in an effort to consolidate his power. Following the defeat of the military tutelage, the government saw a convergence of power. However, the Hizmet movement was not a piece of cake which it could swallow easily. The government had previously purged itself of many bureaucrats who are close to the community.

Turkey Coup Attempt Leaves America With Stark Choice

In the aftermath of Turkey’s attempted, and failed, coup, Washington is primarily concerned about the future of the U.S.-Turkish alliance and its central objective these days: the fight against Islamic State (ISIS). In particular, U.S. policymakers are concerned about the fate of U.S. access to the Turkish airbase at Incirlik, from which assets used in […]

Ethiopian schools linked to Turkish cleric are sold to German educators

A network of schools in Ethiopia linked to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen is changing ownership. The sale of the Nejashi Ethio-Turkish International Schools follows pressure from the government of Turkish President Erdogan, who is urging countries that host institutions inspired by Gulen to close or take them over.

Reach of Turkey’s Erdoğan spreading like fungus across U.S. – analysis

“Erdoğan’s regime is increasingly using connections with domestic-based U.S. Islamist groups, like Muslim American Society (MAS), Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) to exert political influence in the United States,” Anne-Christine Hoff, Dallas associate of the activist group Counter Islamist Grid, said in American Thinker on Sunday.

Massachusetts Judges Express Fears Over Arrests, Firings Of Judges In Turkey

Former Justice Robert Cordy is worried sick about the fate of the judges he helped train in Turkey and here in Boston. They have been fired, jailed, or gone missing. “It’s devastating,” he said. “I don’t think anything has ever devastated me more than seeing this happen to people that I have come to know, love, respect. It is just beyond the pale.”

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

AFSV Condemns Erdoğan’s Persecution of the Hizmet Movement

Academic Thought Platform holds first of its ‘Capital Gatherings’

Fethullah Gulen, the [Gulen] community, and the prep schools

Turkey’s New Maps Are Reclaiming the Ottoman Empire

Erdoğan says his gov’t will carry out ‘witch hunt’

Alevi problems deeper than they seem, opinion leaders agree

ABA urges Obama to protest Turkey’s suppression of free speech

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News