In the wake of the mass detention of more than 300 people in multiple provinces across Turkey ordered by prosecutors in Gaziantep over alleged links to the Gülen movement, lawyer Özge Elif Hendekçi has urged the Gaziantep Bar Association to take urgent action and advocate for their release, the TR724 news website reported.
A member of the Istanbul Bar Association, Hendekçi called on her colleagues to head to the courthouse and represent the detainees, comprising mainly female students, warning that they were vulnerable to psychological and physical abuse while in custody.
Hendekçi said she knew this from her own experience as she served more than five years in prison over alleged links to the Gülen movement, with her young daughter accompanying her during incarceration.
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 members of his family and his inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began pursuing its followers. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch in 2016, which he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
“Let me share from my own experience what happens in police custody,” she said. “Detainees are pressured by interrogating officers to give false statements and are denied access to legal counsel. In my case, one of the accusations used against me was a claim by a woman who shared my cell alleging that I told her not to cooperate with the authorities. Months later, she appeared in court and retracted her statement, admitting she didn’t even know me and had been coerced by police into testifying against me.”
Hendekçi said interrogating officers especially coerced those detainees who had anxiety issues, health problems or young children to give false statements that were later used as evidence for arrest. In some cases these statements were withdrawn in court hearings, but the damage was already done.
“Lawyers must join forces to document these legal violations,” she said. “I urge all my colleagues to do everything within their power to take action and ensure these injustices are brought to light.”
Two hundred eight people were detained on Tuesday, including numerous female students. One hundred twelve more were detained on Wednesday, bringing the total to 320.
They were accused of providing financial support to the Gülen movement and communicating with its members through encrypted messaging apps. Some were also accused of “maintaining contact with individuals affiliated with the movement who are currently abroad.”
Initially denied access to a lawyer, the detainees were allowed to meet with their legal counsel Thursday as interrogations began.
Since the coup attempt, at least 705,172 people have been investigated on terrorism or coup-related charges due to their alleged links to the movement. There are currently at least 13,251 people in prison as a result of pretrial detention or convictions related to terrorism in Gülen-linked trials.
Mistreatment and police coercion in detention remain alarmingly common in Turkey, with female detainees particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment, unlawful strip searches, threats of rape and verbal abuse.
