“The day I was detained, five police officers took me to a mountain and beat the hell out of me. I have been kicked in the head and genital area tens of times. I managed to identify two of the torturers. One of them was called Nejdet and the other one was Battal. Yet, maybe they use nicknames…. I do not have strength to tell you about all the humiliating sexual torture I faced that night,” a victim said.
Tuğba Y., a teacher who lost her sanity due to alleged torture during weeks of interrogation, was arrested and has been kept in prison since late January despite doctors’ reports showing her deteriorating mental condition.
Hatice Kökoğlu, the mother of a disabled son and a daughter, has reportedly been detained in Kütahya province over alleged links to the Gülen movement. However, the two disabled children were left alone after their mother was recently taken into custody as part of an investigation launched by the Kütahya Public Prosecutor’s Office.
“All the Turkish teachers and administrators have left Pakistan and the schools are being run by Pakistanis,” said one of the parents Syed Amir Abdullah. He added that the government still seemed hell bent on ruining these institutions by handing them over to an ‘infamous organisation’ which has no experience of running them.
Parents of students of Pak-Turk schools and colleges blasted the Pakistan government for handing over the education system to a Turkish nonprofit organization called Maarif Foundation. They said that the schools and colleges would suffer if handed-over to the “poorly-equipped and infamous” Maarif Foundation.
Yavuz Bölek, a former police chief who was dismissed from his job following corruption probes implicating Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has colorectal cancer and will soon be paralyzed if he is not given medical attention. His requests for treatment have been ignored.
The Atlantic Institute has announced the 11th year winners of its traditional Art & Essay Contest. This academic year’s theme was “Compassion in Action… Caring Matters!” Awards Ceremony will be held at noon on Saturday, April 15th, 2017.
An annual report released by Amnesty International on Wednesday has said a failed coup attempt in July prompted a massive crackdown on civil society in Turkey and that the faith-based Gülen movement has been the main target.
One of 37 officers who are standing trial on charges of taking part in an assassination attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a failed coup on July 15 has said none of the officers in the trial has any links to the faith-based Gülen movement.
One of the 48 victims said his testicles had been crushed and that a hard object was inserted into his anus while in prison. “I was kept naked in the cold. I was beaten. Pressure was applied to my genital area. The pain didn’t stop for months. I am a bachelor, and I may never be a father,” he said.
Journalist Abdulhamit Bilici, who was dismissed as editor-in-chief of Zaman said the Zaman daily should have kept its distance from the ruling AKP. He also said his media group made a mistake by not objecting to the imprisonment of journalists in the late 2000s.
Norwegian Islamist religious organizations that are affiliated with the Turkish government and its Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) are reportedly involved in unlawful profiling activities of unsuspecting people of Turkish origin across Norway.
The Kano-based Islamic group also cautioned the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against its planned involvement with the government of President Recep Erdogan of Turkey in the setting up of the NGO in some Muslim countries, saying such a body could end up as a vehicle for spreading intolerance and extremism in the world.
“The espionage agents around the Turkish religious authorities go beyond Germany,” the article read adding that “not only were the names of persons transmitted” but also activities by the Gülen movement-affiliated schools, day-care centers, cultural and student associations reported to Turkey.