‘Hero’ T-Shirt Response from Minister of Justice to Journalist Hakan

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Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül has said that the allegations that the people who wear “Hero” t-shirt have been victimized.

In his column at Hürriyet, Ahmet Hakan had asked Minister Gül of a girl wearing a t-shirt reading “My dad is my hero” was detained along with her mother due to the t-shirt on July 20.

Hakan gave place to the response of Minister Gül who called himself.

Minister Gül said:

“The allegations that the people who wear ‘Hero’ t-shirt have been victimized are not true.

“The incident in [Turkey’s southeastern province of] Diyarbakır occurred as follows: Our law enforcers look into the complaints coming from the citizens. Let alone detaining, they release people without taking any legal steps.

“We are sensitive about this. Two lovers who have no link with the terror organization wore ‘Her’ t-shirt…No legal action is taken against such things.

“We are careful about not victimizing people”.

“Hero” detentions

According to BBC Türkçe’s coverage, 33 people from 19 cities were detained as of July 24. 31 of them were released, two others were arrested. A university student couple and a child sitting at a café were among those who were detained.

The detentions continued in the coming days. The number of detentions rose to at least 38.

What happened?

Gökhan Güçlü, who has been tried on charge of attempting suicide against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the July 15 coup attempt, came to the hearing dated July 13 with a t-shirt reading “Hero: Heroes are immortal”, which has sparked debates.

Following the debates, President Erdoğan proposed that the coup trial suspects wear attire uniform in almond color. (BK/TK)