Discharged Teacher Onay Arrested Over ‘I Want My Job Back’ Protest

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Discharged through a statutory decree and demanding to be reinstated to her position, teacher Nazife Onay has been arrested for the second time after having staged a protest for seven months in İstanbul and in Yüksel Street in Turkey's capital city of Ankara, where academic Nuriye Gülmen and teacher Semih Özakça had also been protesting against being discharged from their positions and have gone on a hunger strike.

Onay had been been arrested and released earlier during her protest and she had also been placed under house arrest.

Onay's attorney Duygu Demirel speaking to bianet has informed that the proceedings in the lawsuit brought against Onay on the grounds of her protests in Yüksel Street, Ankara, continued and that Onay faced charges of "being a member of a terrorist organization" and "propagandizing for a terrorist organization".

Demirel added: "She has been released in the first hearing of this trial but as she was leaving prison, she was taken into custody again and was brought to Ankara from İstanbul. She has been in detention for 12 days in İstanbul".

As of the beginning of the new academic year in September 2017, 5,717 academics from 117 universities in 81 cities had been discharged and 140 of them were reinstated to their jobs through nine statutory decrees issued under the State of Emergency.

CLICK - Academic Discharges on Map as New Academic Year Begins

What happened?

Nazife Onay, was discharged from her teaching position at Çağlayan Zuhal Secondary School on February 7, 2017 through the Statutory Decree No. 686 issued under the State of Emergency.

Following her discharge, she started demonstrating in front of the Cevahir Shopping Mall in Şişli, İstanbul on March 6, 2017 under the motto "I want my job back". She later joined the protest on Yüksel Street, Ankara, initiated by academic Nuriye Gülmen and teacher Semih Özakça who also have gone on a hunger strike demanding to be reinstated to their positions.

On July 5, 2017, she was battered and taken into custody while protesting in front of the Ministry of National Education's building in Ankara where Gülmen and Özakça staged protest and was later released after deposition.

CLICK - Private Security Batters Teacher Staging Protest in Front of Education Ministry

On July 6, 2017, on the next day, she was taken into custody together with Veli Saçılık, Esra Özakça, Acun Karadağ, Nazife Onay, Nazan Bozkurt, Abidin Sırma in a police operation while demonstrating in Yüksel Street.

After being released on the condition of house arrest, Onay announced that she did not acknowledge this decision, would continue her protest and said:

"They want to turn our house into a prison. The place where we live in and feel safe, cannot be our prison. They want to make us our own guardian. I under no circumstances acknowledge this decision. It also doesn't not confirm with the law. Therefore, instead of house arrest, they shall arrest me if they want. We are not afraid of being arrested".

On August 9, 2017, she was detained and arrested again for disobeying the court's ruling.

On October 19, 2017, she was released in the first hearing of her trial.

Yet while leaving Sincan Prison in accordance with the court's release order, she was taken into custody again in front of the prison.This time, she was detained by İstanbul Security Directorate Anti-Terror Department units and was brought to İstanbul Security Directorate.

On October 30, she was arrested after being kept in detention for 12 days. (AS/DG)