Hasan Erdem, the father of former Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Eren Erdem, who is under arrest and standing trial on terrorism charges, has been let go from his job, the T24 news website reported on Tuesday.
Coming on the heels of his son’s re-arrest on Monday, Hasan Erdem’s firing was announced via Twitter by another former CHP deputy, Barış Yarkadaş.
“Fear and oppression lead to unscrupulousness. Despotic order corrupts humanity. Uncle Hasan, the father of Eren Erdem, has just been fired from his job because he said, ‘We will not give in,’ after the scandal that erupted yesterday. His employer said, ‘We can no longer work together.’ This is the price of not giving in!” Yarkadaş tweeted.
Eren Erdem was released pending trial and under judicial supervision on Monday morning. However, the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office later in the day objected to the release, claiming that he could flee abroad, and a higher court accepted the objection and issued a detention warrant for him.
In reaction to the prosecutor’s objection, Hasan Erdem had said: “I’m talking to the person who is giving the instructions for this. You should know that my son and I aren’t afraid of you. You will not be able to bring us to our knees.”
Eren Erdem was first arrested on June 29 on charges of “aiding a terrorist organization” five days after parliamentary and presidential elections in which he failed to secure a seat in the legislature. He faces a prison sentence of between nine and 22 years.
Before becoming a deputy, Erdem was a journalist for the Karşı daily, which published documents from graft probes that became public knowledge in December 2013 and implicated the inner circle and the family members of then-prime minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.