Prominent professor and social scientist İştar Gözaydın has been arrested on charges of alleged links to the Gülen movement after a week in detention.
Her husband, İskender Savaşır, announced the arrest, part of a massive purge in the wake of a botched coup in Turkey on July 15.
Professor Gözaydın was a faculty member at İzmir Gediz University, which was shut down by government decree along with thousands of other educational institutions. A former Fulbright scholar, Gözaydın had worked as a research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, and is also among the founders of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly, a Turkish-based human rights organization.
In the last general elections, Gözaydın applied for consideration as a deputy candidate from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Turkey has arrested thousands of academics, judges, prosecutors, journalists, and businesspeople in the unprecedented purge.
Over 100,000 people have been dismissed from positions in public sector.