Melek İpek, 78, mother of self-exiled Turkish businessman Akın İpek, has been sent back to Ankara’s Sincan Prison after a brief hospitalization, the Tr724 news website reported.
İpek was taken into custody on Nov. 9 to serve a prison sentence of six years and three months for “membership in a terrorist organization” over alleged links to the Gülen movement, in addition to a four-year, two-month sentence for allegedly violating Capital Markets Board (SPK) regulations.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations revealed in 2013 implicated then-Prime Minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began targeting its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch in 2016, which he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement have strongly denied involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Shortly after being incarcerated, İpek was hospitalized, as the elderly woman’s already existing health problems worsened in prison.
Her son, businessman Akın İpek, expressed outrage at his mother’s imprisonment on social media and reiterated his mother’s innocence.
Human rights advocates have also condemned the imprisonment of İpek. Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) said the imprisonment was completely unlawful.
In other social media posts, Akın İpek, who now resides in the UK, detailed the many injustices his family has faced over the years.
Koza İpek Holding and numerous valuable personal assets were seized by the government in 2015 based on allegations of Gülen affiliations and other charges. Akın İpek, the holding company founder, was in the UK at the time and decided not to return to Turkey. The Turkish government subsequently filed a formal extradition request for İpek that was rejected by a UK court.
The İpek family has faced legal challenges and government scrutiny since Turkey branded the Gülen movement a terrorist organization in 2016. Several members of the İpek family have been charged with crimes. An Ankara court handed down a prison sentence of 79 years, eight months for Cafer Tekin İpek, Akın İpek’s brother, and he has been behind bars, initially in pretrial detention, since April 2016.
Melek İpek was a well-known and respected woman even among ruling Justice and Development Party circles as a pioneer of charity activities before the government crackdown on the Gülen movement began.
Melek and her son, Cafer Tekin, were among 20 defendants tried in January 2021. Following a ruling by the Ankara 24th High Criminal Court, shares in Koza İpek Holding were transferred to the Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance, and a government-appointed board of trustees has managed the company since its seizure in 2015.
In July 2020, Melek İpek was forcibly removed from her home as part of a government crackdown on the Gülen movement’s assets; however, until recently, she had not been taken into custody.
