At least 4 people detained after police intervened into a group, gathered in solidarity with Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, two educators who have been on hunger strike for 65 days in order to protest their dismissals from their public duties under post-coup emergency rules.
A group of people gathered in front of a Human Rights Monument in Ankara’s Yüksel Street where the two have been staging their protest over two months.
Gülmen was fired from Eskişehir Osmangazi University for her alleged ties to the Gülen movement. Meanwhile, Özakça was a teacher at a primary school in Turkey’s eastern province of Mardin before he was purged over ties to a terrorist organization.
They demonstrated a months-long protest at the same place before they started their hunger strike. Both have been detained more than 30 times due to their protests.
In a video recording filmed on the 61st day in their hunger strike, Gülmen seems faint and both she and Özakça look like they lost some weight.
More than 130,000 people have lost their jobs over alleged or real ties to the movement, which the government accuses of masterminding the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. (turkeypurge.com) May 12, 2017
