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

66,000 students relocated after Turkish government shut down 15 universities over coup charges

Turkish government has closed down 15 universities across the country over their alleged links to the Gulen movement since last summer, leading 66,000 students to look for somewhere else to continue their education.

Malaysia deports 3 Turks despite warnings of torture risk

Three Turkish nationals who were recently detained over controversial charges in Malaysia have been deported to Turkey. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN Human Rights Office for South-East Asia earlier called on Malaysian officials to refrain from extradition as the detainees are affiliated with the Gülen movement.

Yeni Asya editor: Erdoğan kept strategy to finish off Gülen movement secret

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who launched an all-out war against the faith-based Gülen movement in late 2013, kept his strategy to eliminate the group a secret until he decided to sever ties with it completely, Yeni Asya daily Editor-in-Chief Kazım Güleçyüz has said, adding the elimination strategy was state-sponsored.

Letter campaign launched for Turkey’s imprisoned women, mothers

In the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, more than 17,000 women from all walks of life including teachers, doctors and housewives have been jailed in Turkey on coup charges in government-led operations. There are currently more than 700 children accompanying their mothers in Turkish jails.

Erdogan purge far worse than the McCarthy era

What is happening in Turkey right now makes the McCarthy era in the US look like a picnic. When communists were targeted under McCarthyism they were blacklisted; hundreds were jailed, and many were compelled to leave the country. In Turkey it is not communists, but Gulenists. Anyone remotely associated with the Gulen movement is being rounded up and jailed – not by the hundreds, but by the tens of thousands.

Turkey’s Erdoğan Regime Extends Post-Coup Witch Hunt Targeting Gülen Followers Abroad

Turkey, under the autocratic rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has stepped up its witch hunt against the alleged members of Gülen movement abroad, pro-Erdoğan English paper Daily Sabah reported. So far, 16 alleged Gülen followers have been abducted or caught abroad and transferred to Turkey from Asian, Middle Eastern countries and Bulgaria.

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

Planting Seeds of Understanding – A Buddhist View on Gulen Movement

Autistic child injures self to express grief after father detained in Malaysia: mother

Fethullah Gülen’s brother laid to rest amid grief

The Gülen community and the AKP

Society, not community!

Will Erdoğan succeed in wresting away the reins of religion from civilian hands?

Turkey blacklists 68 companies including Germany’s Daimler, BASF over Gülen links

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News