Academic on hunger strike ‘put in intensive care’

Ajailed academic who has been on a sixmonth hunger strike to protest her dismissal in an unprecedented purge has been transferred into intensive care by Turkish authorities, her family said yesterday.

Nuriye Gulmen and teacher Semih Ozakca have been on hunger strike since March over their sacking by government decree under the state of emergency imposed after last year’s coup attempt.

Their families said in a statement that Gulmen was transferred to intensive care against her will overnight, two days before her next court hearing.

“Despite saying she did not want to go, Nuriye was forced to leave and taken to an intensive care unit” in Ankara from the Sincan prison hospital on the outskirts of Ankara early yesterday, the families said.

The two have become symbols of the biggest purge in the country’s history and a rallying cause for critics who believe thousands of people have been unjustly affected by the crackdown.

More than 140,000 public-sector workers have been suspended or fired since the attempted overthrow of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

And over 50,000 people have been arrested in a crackdown criticised by Ankara’s Western allies.