Emine Coşkun, who was arrested in İstanbul on Friday to serve a sentence for conviction of links to the Gülen movement and was being accompanied by her 3-month-old daughter in prison, has been conditionally released due to her daughter’s health.
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy and human rights activist Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a medical doctor by profession, had earlier launched a campaign on social media for Coşkun’s release.
Gergerlioğlu announced the release on Twitter and thanked people for their support.
Haydi herkesin yüzü gülsün 🙂
Akşamın güzel haberi
Emine Coşkun, bebeğinin sağlık sorunları nedeniyle tahliye edildi.
Sonunda akıl, mantık ve hukuk galip geldi.
Cezaevinde durması mümkün olmayan ameliyatlı bebek annesiyle tahliye edildi.
Mücadele güzeldir, herkes sağolsun. pic.twitter.com/SCMcnsNGaG
— Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu (@gergerliogluof) January 24, 2023
Coşkun’s baby, Seniha Bahar, who suffers from a cleft lip, underwent her first surgery a month ago and will need another operation in three months’ time.
The Law on the Execution of Sentences and Security Measures stipulates that the “execution of the prison sentence is delayed for women who are pregnant or have given birth within the last 18 months.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members 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 to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch on July 15, 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
The detention and arrest of pregnant women and mothers with young children have dramatically increased in Turkey in the aftermath of the coup attempt.
Despite the stipulations of the law, according to a report released by Sezgin Tanrıkulu, a human rights activist and deputy from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), there are currently 520 children locked up with their mothers in Turkish prisons.
The children are kept in unsuitable conditions as they are not well fed and do not receive sufficient medical care.
