3 dead, 5 missing in attempt to escape Turkey’s post-coup crackdown


Date posted: February 13, 2018

At least three people died and five others were missing after a boat carrying a group of eight capsized on Tuesday in the Maritsa River while seeking to escape a post-coup crackdown in Turkey.

According to Turkish media reports, the dead were identified as Ayşe Abdurrezzak, a 37-year-old teacher who was earlier dismissed from her job in the crackdown, and her children Abdulkadir Enes Abdurrezzak (11) and Halil Munir Abdurrezzak (3).

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) managed to recover the bodies of the three family members, while the four missing had yet to be found at the time of writing. The eighth had made it into Greece, according to AFAD.

Media said residents near the river heard screams and informed the gendarmerie.

According to people with knowledge of the situation, the boat was carrying three men, three children and two women.

One of the men, Ayşe’s husband, is also a teacher who was earlier dismissed from his job under a post-coup state of emergency decree.

Thousands of people have fled Turkey due to a massive witch-hunt launched by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government against sympathizers of the Gülen movement in the wake of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016. The government accuses the movement of masterminding the coup, while the movement denies any involvement.

Some 150,000 people have been detained, and nearly 60,000 including academics, judges, doctors, teachers, lawyers, students, policemen and others have been put in pretrial detention since the coup attempt. Meanwhile, 150,000 people have lost their jobs in the government’s post-coup purge of state institutions.

Many tried to flee Turkey illegally as the government had cancelled thousands of passports.

In November 2017, Huseyin Maden, a 40-year-old Kastamonu teacher, also dismissed in the aftermath of the failed coup, drowned along with his wife and three children while seeking to flee to the Greek island of Lesvos.

 

Source: Turkish Minute , February 13, 2018

Tags: | | | | | |


Related News

Today’s Zaman’s Mahir Zeynalov leaves Turkey under deportation threat

Zeynalov has been put on a list of foreign individuals who are barred from entering Turkey under Law No. 5683, because of “posting tweets against high-level state officials,” Today’s Zaman learned

Gulen’s new book: “Muslims’ Responsibility in Countering Violence”

The extracts in this booklet have been selected according to the current volume’s theme from among Gülen’s books already published in Turkish. Some of them have been translated into English before but most of the extracts have been translated into English and arranged into different chapters in the present volume. Some of the texts are revised and altered by Fethullah Gülen himself.

Bank Asya shares skyrocket after trading resumes

The Islamic bank has been in the spotlight since Turkish media reported that state-owned companies and institutional depositors loyal to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had withdrawn TL 4 billion ($1.8 billion), or some 20 percent of the bank’s total deposits, because the bank’s founders include sympathizers of cleric Fethullah Gülen, a former-ally-turned-critic of Erdoğan.

81-year-old man sentenced to 10 years in jail over Gulen link

Mustafa Türk, an 81-year-old Turkish who has been under arrest over a year, was sentenced to 10 years in jail on charges of membership to a terrorist organization.

Body of Turkish woman fleeing to Greece found weeks after boat capsized

Turkish authorities have found the body of Aslı Doğan, a Turkish woman who went missing after a refugee boat carrying eight people capsized in the river that marks the border of Turkey and Greece on Feb. 13, 2018.

Fethullah Gulen’s Message on New Defamation Efforts by Erdogan Regime

I also condemn President Erdogan’s reckless and immoral efforts to defame this peaceful movement that has dedicated itself to universal humanitarian values. I trust in the wisdom and fairness of world leaders to recognize this defamation campaign for what it is.

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

Portrait of the Gülen Brotherhood, sworn enemy of Turkey’s President Erdogan

17,000 women, 515 babies in Turkish prisons: SCF report

Erdogan’s False Promises To Africa

Turkish Businesses Snagged In Government’s Post-Coup Crackdown

Samanyolu TV, Kimse Yok Mu raise TL 65 million for quake victims

After The Coup Attempt, A Crackdown In Turkey

You Cannot Understand the Servants!

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News