Academic Nuriye Gülmen, who was dismissed from the civil service along with 648 others from Turkish universities under decrees issued last week, was reported to have been beaten and detained by police in Ankara, where she has been protesting the government decision to purge her and thousands of others from state institutions.
According to information shared on social media, Gülmen, Semih Özakça, a teacher dismissed by government decree, and four people who were supporting her protest were viciously detained by police on Yükseller Street in Ankara. All were beaten, and Gülmen’s nose was probably broken, seyrisokak, a Twitter user, messaged with photos on Wednesday.
Gülmen had been detained for the 15th time in November after her 17th protest demanding reinstatement to her job at Selçuk University.
Due to her adamant resistance, Gülmen was listed as one of the eight leading women of Turkey in 2016 by CNN.
Professors, associate professors and lecturers from nearly all universities in Turkey were targeted in the government’s post-coup crackdown.
A total 19,828 academics have been dismissed, stripped of the right to teach at universities or have become unemployed due to the closure of their universities by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government since failed coup attempt on July 15, BBC Turkish reported on Nov. 27, 2016.