İ.A.O. was detained at a prison in Trabzon on Valentine’s Day when she was visiting her husband, H.O., who had been earlier jailed as part of a post-coup witch-hunt carried out by the government.
The couple’s 6-year-old son, Y.O., was left under his relatives’ care and İ.A.O was ultimately arrested by a court.
According to Turkish media, H.O was the Zaman newspaper’s local representative in Trabzon’s Of district until the paper was closed down by the government after a failed coup attempt on July 15 of last year.
It has been a common occurrence that Turkish police round up suspects when they visit their relatives in prison. On Jan. 23, Ayfer Yavuz was also put in jail along with her four-and-half-month-old infant when she went to Kars prison to visit her husband.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, AK Party government along with Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement, inspired by US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. The movement denies the accusations.
In the currently ongoing post-coup purge, over 135,000 people, including thousands within the military, have been purged due to their real or alleged connection to the Gülen movement, according to a statement by the labor minister on Jan. 10. As of Feb. 1, 89,775 people were being held without charge, with an additional 43,885 in pre-trial detention. (Turkey Purge)
