- Title: Turkey arrests two hunger-striking teachers
- Date: 23rd May 2017
- Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (MAY 23, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ARMED POLICE OFFICERS OUTSIDE COURTHOUSE
- Embargoed: 6th June 2017 21:08
- Keywords: security politics coup purge arrests Turkey Nuriye Gulmen courthouse Semih Ozakca hunger strike
- Location: ANKARA, TURKEY
- City: ANKARA, TURKEY
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA0036I2AM2V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY SHOT IN PORTRAIT FORMAT
Turkey has jailed two teachers who have been on hunger strike for more than two months protesting against a government crackdown in which they lost their jobs after last year's failed coup, their lawyer said on Tuesday (May 23).
An Ankara prosecutor jailed literature professor Nuriye Gulmen and primary school teacher Semih Ozakca on the grounds that their protest was an act committed in the name of DHKP-C, a leftist group deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkey, a court document seen by Reuters showed.
A lawyer representing the teachers said the police detained them because they feared "that their protest could turn into death fasts and new Gezi protests."
He was referring to large anti-government demonstrations four years ago when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the plans to build replica Ottoman barracks on Gezi park in central Istanbul.
The teachers, who are weakened by their hunger strike and in wheelchairs, have said their hunger strike is aimed at highlighting the plight of around 150,000 state employees suspended or sacked after last July's failed coup, which president Tayyip Erdogan blames on followers of a U.S.-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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