Nazife Onay, one of the thousands of teachers who were removed from their jobs by decrees issued by the Turkish government in the aftermath of a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016, was arrested after spending 12 days under police custody.
Onay, a teacher of 11 years, staged a sit-in in protest of her dismissal in front of the Cevahir Shopping Mall in İstanbul’s Şişli district for several weeks before her consecutive detainments.
Onay was earlier detained on charges of making propanganda on behalf of a terrorist organization for attending a demonstration in support of two hunger striking educators, Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, who were also removed from their posts and jailed by the government.
Once released from the custody, Onay defied the house arrest the court in charge ruled for her. She was detained and arrested for between August 9 and October 19, and released again. However, she was redetained just in front of the Sincan Prison in Ankara on October 19. Onay was kept under custody since October 19 and put in pre-trial detention in jail on Monday.
Thousands of academics and teachers have been removed from their jobs since the July 15, 2016 coup attempt as part of a post-coup purge launched by the government under the pretext of an anti-coup fight. (turkeypurge.com)