24-year-old college student B.Ö. was taken into custody on Sept. 7 due to wearing a T-shirt with a "Hero" logo on it. B.Ö. was kept half naked for three hours during his interrogation. A half-naked interrogation is a form of compulsion, against human dignity, and as such, it is a violation of all the legislation Turkey has embraced.
When B.Ö. was asked why he was wearing the shirt, he only stated that there was no connection between him and the network of U.S. based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen. B.Ö. stated that he was only a college student at Akdeniz University. The network of Gülen, also a religious sect, was one of the masterminds of last year's coup attempt.
The same reason has been behind multiple arrests in the past few weeks. A man that walked into a post office was arrested due to his t-shirt, as was a civilian walking on a street in Adıyaman, and a mother and daughter due to the daughter’s T-shirt having a logo that said "My dad, my hero." All in all, more than 20 people have been detained.
The controversy began due to an assassin involved in the failed coup attempt of July 15, Gökhan Güçlü, attending court with a T-shirt with a "Hero" logo. As a result, the T-shirt has become associated with the network of Gülen, which Turkey refers as the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), and the logo is now seen as propaganda for the terrorist groups.
