Imprisoned education worker Nuriye Gülmen, who has been on hunger strike for more than 200 days, was forcibly taken to intensive care unit of Ankara Numune Hospital on September 25 while reading in a conscious state.
Speaking to soL, Esra Özakça, the wife of other imprisoned educator Semih Özakça who has been on hunger strike with Nuriye Gülmen, said, "the guardians took Gülmen to the hospital under coercion while she was reading a book. There will be a hearing in two days, and they want to prevent Nuriye from attending, but it can also be a sign of forcibly medical intervention."
Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy, MD, Murat Emir, who visited the hospital and talk with the Gülmen's doctors said that Nuriye is conscious, cooperative, coherently responses to the questions and can make water and tea intake."
Underlining that no medical intervention can forcibly be performed on a patient if she is conscious, according to the current legal system, Emir noted that forcibly taking Gülmen to the hospital without any solid neurological symptoms seems to be an intervention to restrict her right to defence.
16 lawyers had been previously detained days before the first hearing of Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, while the two hunger-striking educators were restrained from attending for arbitrary reasons.
Emir stated that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was trying to drop two educators off the agenda of Turkish and world public opinion. The MP stressed that there were serious legal and conscientious responsibilities in this case, for the AKP government have not left any effective legal means for Nuriye, Semih and other downtrodden people against the illegal dismissals by statutory decrees.
The next hearing of Gülmen and Özakça will be held on September 28 in Sincan, Ankara.
Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça had started a hunger strike after they unlawfully lost their jobs due to statutory decrees of the AKP government following last year’s failed coup attempt in Turkey. They had been arrested on charges of alleged ‘being members of a terrorist organisation’, which is DHKP-C, a leftist group deemed a terrorist organization by the state.
Gülmen and Özakça are on 202nd days of their hunger strike. Semih Özakça, who has been suffering from serious health problems, is still imprisoned in Sincan Prison in Ankara.
