Turkish teacher jailed over Gülen links dies in prison due to lack of medication


Date posted: April 28, 2018

Halime Gülsu, who was arrested on Feb. 20, 2018 for allegedly helping the faith-based Gülen movement, died on Saturday in prison in Mersin province, reportedly due to deprivation of the medication she took for lupus erythematosus.

According to a report by online news outlet Kronos, Gülsu was not given her medication during 15 days of detention and afterwards in a Tarsus Prison cell that she shared with 21 people. Her health report was lost by prison officials. Due to health problems she was taken to Mersin City Hospital on April 25. But she was sent back to prison, where she went into a coma and died. Prison officials did not act despite calls for help from her cellmates, Kronos reported.

Her brother Zübeyir Gülsu shared photos of her coffin and death report on social media, vowing to go after all responsible in court.

Halime Gülsu was among a group of women who were detained for organizing aid activities for the families of people dismissed from their civil service jobs following a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Several Twitter accounts and media outlets in February reported torture and other forms of ill treatment at the hands of officers at the Mersin police station.

Ana Gomes, a socialist member of the European Parliament, on Saturday tweeted about Gülsu’s death: “RIP! Terribly sad. Murdered by Erdogan’s dictatorship in #Turkey!”

Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, one of Turkey’s most renowned human rights activists and former president of the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (Mazlumder), on Saturday addressed Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül and his ministry on Twitter: “She could not endure… Passed away. What a shame! Who will pay for it? We cried out and warned. What kind of country is this? Thousands of patients, children and mothers in prison?”

According to Turkey Purge 28 individuals, among whom are police officers, prosecutors and teachers, had been found dead as of April 2017 in Turkish prisons since the failed coup attempt in 2016, causing serious concern about the fate of thousands of civilians who have been kept in jail in poor conditions across the country.

The Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) reported in one of its studies titled “Suspicious Deaths and Suicides In Turkey” that there has been an increase in the number of suspicious deaths in Turkey, most in jails and detention centers, where torture and ill-treatment are being practiced. In the majority of cases, authorities concluded they were suicides without any effective, independent investigation.

Suspicious deaths have also taken place beyond prison walls amid psychological pressure and threats of imminent imprisonment and torture, sometimes following the release of suspects or just before their detention. SCF has compiled 112 cases of suspicious deaths and suicides in Turkey in a list in a searchable database format.

Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with 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 has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15. On December 13, 2017 the Justice Ministry announced that 169,013 people have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced on April 18, 2018 that the Turkish government had jailed 77,081 people between July 15, 2016 and April 11, 2018 over alleged links to the Gülen movement.

 

Source: Stockholm Center for Freedom , April 28, 2018


Related News

Turkish engagement with Southern Africa depends on the Turkish attitude towards Hizmet

Turkish engagement with Southern Africa will not be without challenges. The success of this engagement will depend on the Turkish attitude towards the Hizmet Movement. If Turkey decides to tackle the Hizmet Movement head on as it has done in Turkey and in other countries, it will risk alienation in South Africa and the wider region. The Hizmet Movement is generally popular in Southern Africa, with long standing ties to civil society and the political elite.

Gülen’s lawyer: Views other than state ideology considered a crime in Turkey

Nurullah Albayrak, the lawyer of prominent Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, has criticized the blocking of herkul.org, a website that regularly broadcasts speeches by Gülen, saying views that are different from the state ideology are considered a crime in Turkey today.

How can a government allow damaging their very own successful educational system to please another country?

Highly regarded for their educational excellence, these schools are located world-wide and have over 20 years offered the very best of competitive standards. How can any government allow damaging their very own successful educational system due to internal political turmoil of another country even if brotherly to Pakistan?

Turkey, caliphate and Erdoğan

The narrative, behavior pattern and policy decisions of Turkey’s chief political Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suggests that he believes the caliphate can be resurrected, with himself as the sole contender to become caliph, thereby gaining autonomous political authority over at least part of the Islamic world.

What’s not to love in this coup?

Up until yesterday, those who were dying to get a good seat in the “Turkish Olympiads”, now shamelessly intimidate the Turkish Olympiads organizers by saying “you think you have grown into a man by making two African and three Asian kids recite a Turkish a song.”

Saudi Scholar al-Qarni: Gulen serves with wisdom

One of the most celebrated scholars of Saudi Arabia and the Arab world at large, Sheikh Aaidh al-Qarni delivered sermons on “Tabi’in” (a referral to the people who lived in an age right after the Prophet Muhammad’s companions’ generation) at several salatin mosques (mosques built by Ottoman sultans) in Istanbul, on June 1 thru 9. […]

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Senior AK Party member admits profiling of citizens in government, private sector

US-based Turkish cleric denies involvement in coup plot

Becoming a Dialogue Movement: What Can Dialogue Learn from Other Movements?

Turkish Olympiads – A Blessing from God

9 Months imprisonment for hate crimes against Gülen Movement in Germany

TUSKON offers Brazilian investors cooperation in tourism

Reflections on my first trip to TÜRKIYE

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News