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


Date posted: December 1, 2021

Yusuf Özmen, a cancer patient who has been sentenced to 8 years, 9 months in prison due to his alleged links to the Gülen movement, has recently been sent back to prison after the supreme court of appeals upheld the prison sentence.

According to the Kronos news portal, Although a report issued by the Erzurum Atatürk University hospital committee has advised against his imprisonment, Özmen currently stays at Erzurum H Type High Security Prison.

The purge-victim man is accused of having membership in the Gulen group, which the Turkish government accuses of masterminding a coup attempt on July 15, 2016. The group denies any involvement.

Following the coup attempt, the Turkish government launched a massive crackdown on followers of the movement under the pretext of an anti-coup fight as a result of which more than 130,000 people were removed from state jobs while in excess of 30,000 others including elderly people, pregnant women or those who have just given birth and ailing people are still in jail, and some 600,000 people have been investigated on allegations of terrorism. 

Source: Turkey Purge , August 15, 2021

Tags: | | |


Related News

Was there a sincere alliance between the Gulen Movement and Erdogan?

NRT correspondent Huner Anwer interviews Fethullah Gulen in his Pennsylvania residence ask the crucial question on alliance between the Gulen Movement and Erdogan. Gulen says, briefly, there has never been sincere alliance between them but the movement supported Erdogan as long as Erdogan stayed in line with democratic values and honored rule of law.

Does Erdogan really want Gulen in Turkey?

General assumption is that Erdogan is indeed playing a cynical game with the Gulen issue, and also involving the United States in this, in a populist effort aimed at his own constituency in the lead-up to the presidential elections in August, where he is expected to run.

49-member team to report to President Erdoğan on Gülen-linked trials

A group of 49 people, nine experts from Turkey’s State Inspection Council and 40 key advisers of President Tayyip Erdoğan, will closely monitor trials concerning the Gülen movement and submit reports to the president.

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

It is no secret that my bonds of affection with the wise religious leader Fethullah Gulen and his movement go back more than twenty years. I trust that Hocaefendi, with his endless sense of fairness, is aware of this situation. He feels offended firstly because the government signed the National Security Council’s brief without hesitation, and secondly because it has profiled [both him and the movement]. In any case, resisting the closure of the movement’s prep schools is the same as resisting an authoritarian course of events!

Former US diplomat: War on Turkish schools in Africa ruining Turkey’s credibility

Former US Ambassador to Ethiopia and Adjunct Professor of International Relations David Shinn told Sunday’s Zaman in an exclusive interview that Turkey tends to lose its credibility when it asks African governments to close Turkish schools as African leaders traditionally put up resistance when they are told what to do by an “external power.”

Council of Europe: Turkey must separate coup plotters from Gülen employees

“We are stressing to the Turks that they have to present clear evidence, be able to separate those who were clearly behind the coup and those who have been in some way or another connected to or working for this so-called Gülen network,” Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, told Reuters.

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

Turkey’s Economy Suffering Enormous Post-Coup Purges

Hundreds celebrate Clifton’s diversity at festival

Faiths come together at Ramadan fast-breaking in Welling and ‘send clear message’ to terrorists after London Bridge attack

Arrest of Kanter’s father underscores deepening tensions between U.S., Turkey

Transparency and trust is our only weapon says Turkish NGO chairman

Paranoia: Turkish ‘hero’ T-shirts land dozens in jail

Establishing a Culture of Coexistence and Mutual Understanding Conference Kicks off in Nigeria

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News