Turkey issues detention warrants for 17 football fans over banner for supporting hunger strikers

Detention warrants were issued by Samsun Chief prosecutor’s Office for 17 fans of Turkish football club Beşiktaş for holding a banner during a Sunday match that read: “Let Nuriye and Semih live!”

Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, the two jailed educators have been on a hunger strike to protest their dismissal by a post-coup government decree, for 155 days. Gülmen was fired from Konya Selçuk University for her alleged ties to the Gülen movement while 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.

Detention warrants were issued for 17 individuals for holding a banner on allegedly behalf of the outlawed Revolutionary People s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), a statement from the Samsun’s Public Prosecutor’s Office read on August 10.

The banner was opened during Turkish Super Cup final between Beşiktaş and Konyaspor in Samsun province on Sunday. (turkeypurge.com)

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