8-year-old cancer patient denied passport due to father’s alleged links to Turkey’s Gülen group


Date posted: November 21, 2019

Ahmet Ataç, an eight-year-old kid with stage four bone cancer, has reportedly been denied a passport by Turkish authorities due to the his father’s ongoing imprisonment over alleged links to Turkey’s Gülen group.

The group is accused by the government of masterminding a coup attempt in 2016.

According to Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a pro-Kurdish deputy in Turkey, Ahmet’s father has been held in prison for over 19 months on terror and coup charges. His mother was also detained several times over the past month on similar charges.

Ahmet has a stage 4 bone cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year relative survival rate for the most advanced stage of bone cancer, or osteosarcoma, is only 27 percent. Ahmet’s mother says that scientists at the Immune-Oncological Centre in Cologne (IOZK) may actually have a way to cure her son, if he is given a passport to go to Germany, of course.

Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen group, inspired by US-based Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen.

Source: Turkey Purge , November 20, 2019


Related News

Turkish government defiant as battle over prep schools rises

Both the government and the Gülen movement have raised the stakes in the debate over a plan to regulate private prep schools, or dershanes. The tension recently peaked, with Erdoğan describing the group’s objection to his government’s plans as a “smear campaign.” Ekrem Dumanlı, editor-in-chief of daily Zaman, which is known for its close ties with the Gülen movement, wrote an open letter to Erdoğan and urged him to review his decision.

AK Party gov’t treats critical letters, columns as ‘treachery’

In an attempt to defame the Hizmet movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, the Turkish government and its media outlets have presented letters sent by civil society representatives affiliated with the faith-based movement to foreign officials providing them with information about the situation in Turkey as “treachery.”

Hundreds of thousands homeless as Turkey’s southeast lay in ruins

When the residents of Sirnak returned to the city last month after Turkish authorities lifted eight-month curfew during intense urban fighting between the Turkish security forces and Kurdish insurgents, they were shocked with what they saw: there was no home where they left.

Police raid schools in Diyarbakır where locals go on strike in protest of recent gov’t practices

Police officers and inspectors carried out raids on a number of schools inspired by the faith-based Gülen movement as part of a government-led operation against the movement in southeastern province of Diyarbakır, where people have gone on strike in protest of the government’s recent practices in the province.

Helping hands to Kosova

Turkey extended a helping hand to Kosova, the ninth poorest country of the world, through Kimse Yok Mu Relief Foundation. Responding to cries of the orphans in the country, which gained independence in 2008, Kimse Yok Mu Relief Foundation distributed a variety of supplies ranging from sewing machines to goreceries, stationeries to toys. Aids have been distributed to those who became widows and orphans for the sake of their country’s independence. Among volunteers, there were Mujgan Koralturk, who plays Dilan character in the famous series ‘Tek Turkiye’, and Aslihan Erkisi, a famous vocal artist.

Infiltrating or contributing?

None of the academics in attendance reported finding any sign of attempts by movement members to overthrow democracy or even to “grab a bigger share of the pie” for a new elite, shady or otherwise.

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

Kimse Yok Mu enables African girls to go to school

Dialogue and Friendship Dinner Unites Multi-Cultural, Faith Groups

Reactions pour in over Turks’ controversial arrest in Malaysia as UN joins calls against extradition

Ergenekon suspect convicted for insulting Gulen

Kimse Yok Mu distributes aid to Syrian refugees

Mother of 6 under arrest as police fail to locate husband suspected of Gulen links

Why Is Turkey Targeting Hizmet? Questions about Erdoğan’s Post-Coup Crackdown

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News