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The Critical Health Situation of Fatma Gormez and Urgent Action for the Release of Bekir Gormez on the Conditions of Pending Trial Without Arrest

Under the state of emergency, imposed after July 2016 attempted coup and lifted on July 2018, President Erdogan presided over the cabinet, which could pass decrees without parliamentary scrutiny or the possibility of appeal to the constitutional court. Public officials continued to be dismissed or suspended by decree without due process, with more than 170,000 dismissed since July 2016. Those dismissed from their jobs lost their income, social benefits, medical insurance and even their homes.

Fatma Gormez, a former teacher who was removed from her job in the aftermath of a failed coup in Turkey on July 2016, now weighs only 29 kilograms due to a series of health problems, Fatma is calling for the release of her husband to enable her to continue living via a video message posted on her Twitter account.

Stockholm Center for Freedom reports that Berk Gormez, a 14 years old disabled son of that couple who were both purged, lost his life in January 2018. Berk`s father, Bekir Gormez was not permitted to visit him for the last 17 months despite of his and his mother`s severe health problems. During the funeral of Berk, Bekir Gormez was not allowed to take off his handcuffs.

Given the arbitrary detentions of thousands of people due to lack of rule of law in Turkey, hundreds of thousands of people, including family members, are being affected and exposed to severe human rights violations. Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, HDP MP, stated on Twitter through his personal account that the case of Fatma Gormez was submitted to Supreme Court requesting her husband`s release by the court pending trial.

We strongly urge the Turkish government to take the case of Fatma Gormez into consideration immediate effectively and release her husband on conditions of trial without arrest.