İştar Gözaydın, a prominent social science professor who has been in pre-trial detention for the last 51 days, sent a message from prison saying that she hopes for a just country.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) İstanbul deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu paid a visit to Gözaydın and delivered the academic’s message on Thursday.
Gözaydın sent greetings to her friends and said she hoped for a country that observes the rule of law.
Professor Gözaydın has been under arrest in one of the investigations into the Gülen movement and faces charges of terrorist links.
Tanrıkulu said Professor Gözaydın spends her days in prison reading the books that she never had a chance to read in the past. He said Gözaydın is unfairly being held under arrest.
Gözaydın applied to the CHP to stand as a deputy in the June 2015 elections. In a recent piece for the Diken news website, Turkish Professor Umut Özkırımlı, who teaches in Sweden, wrote the background of Gözaydın’s attempt in politics. Özkırımlı blamed CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for not standing by Gözaydın despite his promises to nominate her and then later during her arrest.
As part of a purge in the wake of a failed coup attempt on July 15, Turkey dismissed over 7,000 academics.
Several academics are behind bars, mostly in pre-trial detention, due to allegations of terrorist links.