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

Detained woman, newborn baby transferred to prison 1,291 km away from home

Detained in the southern province of Isparta, Turkey, as part of a post-coup investigation, a woman, identified with initials Ö.A., has been transferred to a prison 1,291 kilometers away from home. Her 6-mont-old baby reportedly accompanied her under detention as her husband was already in jail as part of an investigation in the aftermath of the July 15, 2016 coup attempt.

Scholars at Abant Meeting call for EU negotiations, domestic reform

Menekse Tokyay for Southeast European Times As Turkey’s EU bid has stalled, a group of prominent scholars agree that negotiations can only proceed if Turkey advances democracy, drafts a new civilian constitution and resolves of the Kurdish issue. The Abant Platform has long been a progressive force in Turkey, bringing together intellectuals to debate and […]

Turkish purges leave armed forces weak, dismissed officer warns

NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, General Curtis Scaparrotti, said in December that he never had any reason to suspect that Turkish officers in his teams would be involved in a coup attempt. In their absence, and without their expertise, the capacity of his staff had been “degraded,” he told the Financial Times and Deutsche Welle.

Bank Asya: Battle for survival against a presidential onslaught

Not all banking collapses are alike or lead to extinction. Some are caused by systemic, catastrophic events such as the global financial crisis of 2008, while others are caused by idiosyncratic exposure to geopolitical factors. Bank Asya, Turkey’s largest private participation bank, is currently in the midst of the latter and is potentially edging toward disintegration.

‘My 5-month old son is slowly going blind in prison,’ says jailed mother

Betül Selçuk, a physics teacher who has been held in pretrial detention for almost 11 months over alleged links to the Gülen movement, has told her lawyer that her 5-month-old son, Mehmet Selim, is slowly going blind in prison due to overheating and unhygienic conditions.

What is wrong with the ‘Muslim’ world?

Many radical Islamists and Islamophobes are mirror images of each other. They want to divide the world into two diametrically opposing, antagonistic and constantly belligerent political camps: “dar al-Harb” and “dar al-Islam.” They hate co-existence. They hate interdependence…

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

Remarks by Congressman Randy Weber (Representing Texas) at IFLC Washington DC

Slanders against Hizmet Movement at highest level, which offends Anatolians

Gulen Institute Youth Platfrom announces essay contest: ‘Hospitality in the Global Village’

Turkish officers speak: Erdogan may have staged coup

Enes Kanter to sign with Trail Blazers for record $70 million

Anatolian Tigers drive Turkey’s silent revolution

International Conference on Hizmet Movement in Taiwan

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News