İştar Gözaydın, a leading law professor, was detained on Tuesday along with 13 other academics and staff members from the now-closed Gediz University as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement, which the government accuses of masterminding an attempted coup in Turkey on July 15.
Police carried out operations in four provinces including İzmir to detain 14 Gediz University personnel.
The 57-year-old academic served as chairman of the university’s sociology department until she was suspended after the coup attempt. Days after the suspension of many others, the university was ultimately shuttered on July 23.
“They detained my spouse, İştar Gözaydın, at home at 6 am the morning. Neighbors just told me,” her husband, İskender Savaşır, tweeted on Tuesday.
A former Fulbright scholar, Gözaydın worked as a research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. Gözaydın is also among the founders of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly, a Turkish-based human rights organization.