University student Süeda Güngör, who had been on trial over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement and had campaigned for the release of her ailing father before his death in prison, has been acquitted by a Turkish court
Güngör, 24, announced the ruling of the İzmir 2nd High Criminal Court, saying a “long and exhausting period” had come to an end, referring also to the ordeal of her father, İbrahim Güngör, who had been imprisoned on the same charges and died in prison after his health deteriorated.
According to the TR724 news website, three defendants were sentenced to more than six years in prison in the trial.
A senior student at Dokuz Eylül University, Güngör was arrested on June 20, 2025, after months of campaigning for her father’s release. She was among 38 students taken into custody, 20 of whom were later arrested over alleged links to the Gülen movement, based on activities such as sharing apartments with friends, mutual assistance, attending religious gatherings and organizing iftar meals.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has targeted followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, who died in 2024, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle. He dismissed the probes as a Gülenist conspiracy and later designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016, intensifying a sweeping crackdown after a coup attempt in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of orchestrating. The movement denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Visiting the students in prison, human rights advocate and Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) lawmaker Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu said the students were subjected to degrading strip-searches upon arrival, although authorities have repeatedly denied that such practices take place.
Güngör was released pending trial after approximately six months in detention on December 17, 2025.
Güngör was denied the opportunity to attend the funeral of her father, who died on September 7, 2025, while she was in pretrial detention. She was only allowed to visit her family days later, for one hour and while in handcuffs.
İbrahim Güngör, 72, had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and prostate problems, and had been hospitalized several times during his imprisonment. Despite her monthslong campaign for his release, Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) had ruled in April that he was fit to remain in prison.
İbrahim Güngör, a former director of student affairs at İzmir-based Gediz University, which was shut down by emergency decree in 2016, had been sentenced to more than eight years in prison on charges related to organizing student meetings and collecting donations.
According to the latest figures from the justice ministry, more than 126,000 people have been convicted of alleged links to the movement since 2016, with 11,085 still in prison. Legal proceedings are ongoing for over 24,000 individuals, while another 58,000 remain under active investigation nearly a decade later.
