Nagehan G., who was detained as she was visiting his arrested husband in Sincan Prision in Ankara together with her five children, was released by a court in Tokat province after 7 days of detention on Monday.
Nagehan G. has been transferred from Ankara to Tokat province and during her stay under custody she was refused to be given diet foods despite she is a diabetic. The court’s decision for release has come with 50.000 TL (12.300 euro) bail to be paid within 10 days. If she could not pay the bail, she will have to be separated from her five children again.
A video was shared on Jan. 23, 2017 on social media showing five children left alone in tears in front of Sincan Prison in Ankara after their mother was detained while they were visiting their father in prison. The detention and the situation of five children has drew harsh reactions from people from all walks of life.
“Leaving children alone in such a situation is against the Convention on the Rights of the Child and all related laws. We will follow this issue,” said Mahmut Tanal, a deputy from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and a member of the Human Rights Commission in the Turkish Parliament, on Monday.
“If anyone is guilty, of course they should be punished. But detaining a wife while visiting her husband in prison and as a result, leaving the children, one of them handicapped, alone is not compatible with conscience and the law or with ethics. What the video show is a humanitarian tragedy.”
In the video a child opens the door of a car in the prison parking lot, showing his brothers crying, and says in tears, “We are five brothers, left alone. We have a handicapped brother. I commend those people to God’s punishment.”
Moreover, the tweets of renowned cartoonist Carlos Latuff had been withheld in Turkey after he drew five children who were left alone in tears in front of an Ankara prison after their mother was detained while they were visiting their father in prison on Jan. 23. Latuff tweeted on last Thursday that he received screenshots from Turkish Twitter users showing that his tweets were being withheld in Turkey.
“My @Twitter account withheld in #Turkey? Why? What the Turkish govt is afraid of? Are my tweets and toons a threat to Sultan Erdogan?” Latuff tweeted.
Latuff had highlighted the plight of the children with a striking drawing on the Globe Post news portal, which went viral on social media on Jan. 25.
Reaction has mounted after the video was shared on social media by Tanal. People say similar incidents have occurred since a witch-hunt was launched against the Gülen movement by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) following a failed coup attempt on July 15.
