Social media users on Wednesday launched a campaign calling on Turkish authorities to release Deniz Gündoğdu, who was arrested and sent to Edirne Prison in July with her then-16-month-old daughter, Asude, after being sentenced to prison for alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement.
Gündoğdu and her child were traveling to Greece to seek asylum in Europe when she was detained by Turkish police on July 2. She had previously been sentenced to six years, three months over alleged links to the movement, but Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the verdict on June 2 and ordered a retrial. Released pending retrial and fearing a fresh conviction, Gündoğdu attempted to leave the country with her youngest daughter.
The hashtag #AsudeHapisteBüyümesin (May Asude Not Grow Up In Prison) began trending on Wednesday, highlighting the prison conditions, including prolonged water cuts and overcrowding.
“When the silence of justice combines with the silence of society, humanity is lost,” said a social media user.
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 as well as some of his family members 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 the 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.
Another user said, “A child’s place is the playground, not prison.”
Gündoğdu has another daughter, Elif Beyza, 10, who lives with her father. Gündoğdu’s husband, Vahit Murat Gündoğdu, was previously imprisoned for nearly six years on similar charges and was released in 2023. He worked for an educational company later placed under state control.
Under Law No. 5275, children up to age six stay with incarcerated mothers when no other caregiver is available, but the same legislation lets courts postpone a woman’s sentence if she has given birth within the previous 18 months. Rights groups say such postponements are rarely granted.
The United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners (known as the Bangkok Rules), Articles 48-52, contain regulations regarding pregnant women, nursing mothers and women with children in prison. These international standards, adopted in 2010, state that “prisoners who are pregnant/have recently given birth/are nursing/staying with children should be treated according to their needs; children should be monitored by specialists. A child staying with their mother should never be treated as a prisoner.”
According to an October report by Civil Society in the Penal System (CISST), 822 children under the age of six are living with their mothers in prison. There are also 4,561 minors between the ages of 12 and 18 in detention.
