Trabzon parent in pre-trial detention for months on coup charges, 4-year old with down syndrome left in care of grandmother

Bahar A. and Vahit A., two Turkish citizens and the parent of four children, have been held in pre-trial detention for months over alleged links to Turkey’s Gülen group, which is accused by the Turkish government of masterminding a coup attempt in July 2016.

According to a Twitter account, one of their children, Ebru (4) has been left in care of her 70-year-old grandmother. Ebru has Down syndrome.

Both Bahar and Vahit A. are accused of having “membership in an armed terrorist organization” and “attempting to destroy the unity of the state and nation.”

The mother was put in pre-trial detention early in May 2019 while the father has been held in pre-trial detention for over 2,5 years in a prison in Turkey’s Kutahya province.

The claim has neither been confirmed nor denied by the Turkish authorities.

Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people. Following the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen group, initiating a widespread purge aimed at cleansing members of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

There are more than 17,000 women and over 500 kids in Turkish prisons.

In several cases, women were detained in the hospital immediately after the delivery of her baby and before they had a chance to recover. Many women were jailed as they were visiting their imprisoned husbands, leaving the children stranded in the ensuing chaos.

Bahar Hanım
Trabzon ' da tutuklandı
Eşi Vahit Bey de 3 yıldır tutuklu
4 çocuk annesiz ve babasız kaldı
4 yaşındaki Ebru down sendromlu
Çocuklar 74 yaşındaki babaannede zor durumdalar.

Bahar Hanım tutuksuz yargılansın. Çocuklar kimsesiz kalmasın. Biraz vicdan..!!@gergerliogluof pic.twitter.com/VzK8De9YLz

— VERDA HANZADE (@VerdaHanzade_) May 21, 2019

from Turkey Purge https://turkeypurge.com/kutahya-parent-in-pre-trial-detention-for-months-on-coup-charges-4-year-old-with-down-syndrome-left-in-care-of-granmother