Nuriye Gülmen Detained in Bodrum

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Academic Nuriye Gülmen and Mehmet Dersulu, who have gone to Bodrum in Muğla to support Engin Karataş, a class teacher protesting with the demand that he be reinstated to his job, have been taken into custody.

The People's Law Bureau released a statement and announced that Gülmen and Dersulu were detained in Değirmenler yesterday (August 8) when they wanted to fly a kite. They met their attorneys today.

In the statement of the Bureau, it was also indicated that Dersulu was battered in detention: "They wanted to fly a kite in a place called Değirmenler; then, the police officers came and demanded to do a criminal record check. Teacher Nuriye said, 'You already know me' and refused to show her identity card. They were detained after that."

The Bureau stated that Gülmen was in a good condition, adding that Gülmen and Dersulu were expected to give their depositions today.

He holds creative demonstrations

Engin Karataş was a class teacher in the district of Bodrum in Muğla. He was discharged from his post at the primary school, where he had been working for 13 years, as per the Statutory Decree no. 675 published on the Official Gazette on October 29, 2016.

Since then, he has been protesting alone with a banner stating that he wants to be reinstated to his job. He was taken into custody several times in the past. He was also given administrative fines and a legal action has been taken against him on charge of "disturbing peace and harmony."

In order to make his voice heard, he protested in the air by jumping with a parachute. He also staged an underwater protest by wearing wet suit. At that time, he was taken into custody in water by the Coast Guard forces.

In one of his protests, Karataş also flew paper planes with "I want my job back" written on them at Bodrum square. (AS/SD)