After losing her job for in April with fake accusations, Nuriye Gülmen starting her protest peacefully by holding a sign demanding her job back

Ms. Gülmen was a target of administration at the Eskişehir Osmangazi University for being a dissident.  In 2014 when she participated in the commemoration of Berkin Elvan who at the age of 15 was killed by the Turkish police on March 11, 2014, the administration rained accusations and punishment on her.  Berkin Elvan was shot in the head with a gas canister by a cop at close range.  When the university found out that further she had taken part in another legal protest at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, she was punished again.  Her close relationships with unions did not help either.

Nuriye Gülmen worked as a researcher in the Department of Comparative Literature at Eskişehir Osmangazi University.  Her participation in legal demonstrations together with more than 10,000 people caused her to get a year long “prevention from promotion”  from her position in 2014.  Later a two more year was added to her sentence by the administration.

What really irked the Rectorate was her participation in a press conference that exposed the politics behind the forced exile of the head of Education Workers union, Eğitim Sen.

While not opening a single legal investigation of her so-called “one after other ideological actions” she was disciplined anyway.

Her supervisors asked whether her participation in demonstrations had any political or ideological motives which she replied such questions are not legally appropriate.  On participating in the protest demonstration against the targeting killing of the 15 year old Berkin Elvan, she replied, “Being questioned by the institution I work at for participating in a demonstration where more than 10,000 people gathered shows clearly that I am targeted purposefully by the administration.”

Administration also prepared a secret report and questioned her students for her asking to scrutinize the usage of the word “terrorist” before using it too loosely.

When she submitted her thesis to her advisor two weeks ahead of the scheduled date, the advisor who was appointed irregularly by the administration refused to read her thesis and when the deadline came and passed, the administration told her she was late.

Needless to say Nuriye Gülmen has been arrested more than 12 times for holding a banner calling for the injustice to end.  She was arrested also for holding a banner demanding she be returned to her students, studies and teaching.

The last arrest came when other academicians who were fired with a government decree in February 2017 joind Nuriye Gülmen to demand their jobs back. Nuriye Gülmen had been on the streets demonstrating for the last 100 days regardless of how many times she had been arrested.

Police, as usual, attacked brutally and arrested not only Nuriye Gülmen but other academicians and supporters.

Sendika.Org News