Turkish Authorities Deny Funeral Service for Drowned Gulen Supporters and babies


Date posted: July 31, 2018

Local municipality officials in western Turkey denied funeral service and funeral vehicle for six people, including three babies, who drowned while attempting to reach Greek island of Lesbos in a bid to flee persecution in their home country.

On early Sunday, six Turkish asylum seekers, who were believed to have ties to Gulen Movement, died when a boat carrying 16 people capsized off northwestern Turkey coast.

The bodies were taken to Ayvalik Hospital Morgue in Ayvalik, a coastal district of the northwestern province of Balikesir. Then they were transferred to Bursa State Hospital Forensic Institution for an autopsy report. Bursa mayor refused to provide a funeral vehicle for the slain bodies due to their perceived links to Gulen Movement.

Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, former human rights activist and a lawmaker from pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HDP), wrote on Twitter that the municipality blocked public service to the victims. “No funeral vehicle to FETO,” Mayor Alinur Aktas instructed the officials, he said.

The Turkish government labeled Gulen Movement as a terrorist organization and remanded more than 50,000 people in jail over real or perceived ties to the group. Ankara placed the blame for the failed 2016 coup on the group.

After the lawmaker brought the claim in social media, Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Public Relations Department denied that.

Asked by journalists, Department Director Ahmet Bayhan noted that the municipality does not make politics through dead bodies of people and they provide service to citizens regardless of their political and social affiliation.

“We have no such an instruction. We don’t make politics over funerals; our job is to provide service,” he said.

In a statement by the municipality, it said families wanted to send bodies to far away provinces. According to the procedure, the municipality informed the families that corpses should be brought by plane. When the families preferred land route, they found vehicles with their own measures, without any service by the municipality.

During the state of emergency, which ended on July 18, more than 150,000 public workers have been either suspended or dismissed from civil service and security bureaucracy over charges of having links to Gulen Movement. The arbitrariness, the lack of fair trial and due process sparked international criticism during the post-coup purge.

The HDP lawmaker, a physician and an academic, was also dismissed from his job. He frequently brings the cases of victims to national attention and now in Parliament.

International human rights groups have called on Turkey to restore rights of the purge victims. But Ankara has so far refused the calls.

 

Source: The Globe Post , July 30, 2018


Related News

Two volunteers of Gülen Movement reportedly abducted after released by Azerbaijani Court

According to a report, Turkish citizens Ayhan Seferoğlu and Erdoğan Taylan were detained by Azeri police. However, an Azerbaijani court decided to release them. As their relatives were waiting Seferoğlu and Taylan to be free, they have reportedly been abducted by unidentified persons from the backdoor of the courthouse where they were tried.

İstanbul municipality tears down part of school in midnight operation

The İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality sent teams in the early hours of Tuesday morning to the private Fatih College in the Merter neighborhood to demolish the wall of the school as well as a security cabin in the school’s courtyard.

Don’t draw us into your family fight: Washington

The United States has told Ankara it has no any intention of getting involved into what it calls “a family fight,” denying conspiracy theories suggesting Washington’s role in the ongoing struggle between the government and the powerful Gülen community that has exploded with a new corruption probe. “Please don’t draw us into your family fight here. We don’t want one side or the other to feed this conspiracy idea that we are against the prime minister or against Fethullah Gülen Hocaefendi,”

Parents protest deportation of Pak-Turk School’s teachers, staff

Slamming the government’s decision of deporting Turkish teachers and staff from the country, parents said “Pak-Turk Schools were founded without any financial assistance of Turkey and Pakistani government but founded by the philanthropist donations of people of Pakistan and Turkey” adding that these schools were the property of Pakistani people.

A Forum On Africa in Turkey (II)

Istanbul was peaceful when we arrived to attend the 29th Abant international forum titled: “Africa: Between Experience and Inspiration”. The event which brought together about 160 participants held between June 28-30, 2013 at a serene and scenic mountain resort of Abantu Buyuk Hotel in Bolu,Turkey.

Turkey calls on parents to report Erdogan critics at German schools

Turkish consulates in Germany have been organizing events for Turkish parents and asking them to spy on critics of the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkey at German schools, according to an education trade union, GEW (Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft).

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

Wife of veteran who lost hand, eyes in bomb attack under custody over Gülen links

Turkey’s post-revolutionary civil war

New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan visited Turkish Cultural Center in Manhattan

New university in Pakistan with Turkish collaboration

PakTurk School lauded for serving a wide range of students

Does Erdogan really want Gulen in Turkey?

“Abraham’s Table Gatherings” in Turkey hosts Assyrian community

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News