A former police officer dismissed by an emergency decree over alleged links to faith-based Gülen movement has been in intensive care for two months after a workplace accident in the northern province of Samsun.
Hakan Ceniklioğlu was struck on the head by a heavy object, underwent three brain surgeries and is in critical condition, human rights defender and Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) lawmaker Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu announced on X.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and a conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan began to target the movement’s members. He designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016 and intensified the crackdown on it following an abortive putsch in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of masterminding. The movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Turkey declared a state of emergency (OHAL) following the abortive putsch that remained in effect until July 19, 2018. During the state of emergency, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) carried out a purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight by issuing a number of government decrees, known as KHKs, firing over 130,000 civil servants from their jobs due to their real or alleged connections to “terrorist organizations.”
Dismissed public servants were not only fired from their jobs; they were also prohibited from working again in the public sector and getting a passport. The government also made it difficult for them to work formally in the private sector. Notes were put on the social security database about dismissed public servants to deter potential employers.
As a result, many purge victims have had to work in uninsured jobs with very little workplace safety. There have also been several cases where former public servants have died due to occupational accidents in physically demanding jobs.
