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Mother of 2 detained by police for second time over Gülen links

Yasemin Baltacı, 29, a mother of two, was detained again on Monday in Turkey’s Tekirdağ province as part of an investigation into the faith-based Gülen movement.

She was previously jailed for 25 days, when she was pregnant, and gave birth to her daughter, now 9 months old, during her incarceration.

Baltacı wanted to keep her daughter with her today, but a prosecutor reportedly told police officers to “put the child into social services,” according to Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a deputy for the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

Her husband was later called to their home to take care of the children.

Turkish law requires postponement of the arrest of pregnant women until they give birth and the infant reaches the age of six months; however, dozens of pregnant women have been arrested as part of a large-scale crackdown targeting followers of the movement.

Turkey accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt, although it strongly denies any involvement. Since then, more than a million people were targeted by the post-coup crackdown.

In the previous case against her, Baltacı received seven years, nine months in prison for membership in the movement.

The case is still pending at the regional appeals court, and if it’s be upheld, she will return to prison.

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