İzmir Medical Chamber: Release Dr. Şeyhmus Gökalp

* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)

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İzmir Medical Chamber has demanded that Turkish Medical Association (TTB) High Honorary Board Member Dr. Şeyhmus Gökalp be released.

Holding a press statement at the conference hall of the chamber yesterday (December 28), İzmir Medical Chamber Chair Op. Dr. M. Lütfi Çamlı, Secretary General Dr. Nuri Seha Yüksel, TTB member Dr. Yıldıray Orhan, Executive Board member Op. Dr. Hakan Köse addressed the reporters.

Arrested in Diyarbakır Type D Prison since November 23, Dr. Gökalp has been indicted by the prosecutor's office. While 54 pages of the 55-page indictment allege that the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) is an "illegal entity", it demands up to 15 years in prison for the physician.

As the indictment has been accepted by the Diyarbakır 10th Heavy Penal Court, Dr. Gökalp will have his first hearing on February 10, 2021.

'He is unjustly and unlawfully arrested'

As reported by the Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the statement of the İzmir Medical Chamber has underlined that Gökalp has been arrested despite the absence of concrete criminal evidence against him.

Indicating that Gökalp has been arrested based on the statements of an informant despite the related rulings of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the statement has read:

"Deprived of his freedom, Dr. Şeyhmus Gökalp has been arrested in Diyarbakır Type D Closed Penal Institution for 36 days.

"The World Medical Association and the Standing Committee of European Doctors addressed letters to the authorities in our country, expressing their concerns and requesting the release of Gökalp; however, these calls are being disregarded and his unjust-unlawful arrest still continues."

What happened?

Dr. Şeyhmus Gökalp, the High Honorary Board member and former Central Council member of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), was arrested on November 23 as part of an investigation into the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

Speaking to bianet about the issue, Human Rights Association (İHD) Diyarbakır Branch Chair Abdullah Zeytun previously said, "He has been accused with his human rights defending activities and medical profession being criminalized. The offenses charged are inconceivable, he has been arrested without seeking any material and concrete evidence."

After the TTB made a statement of "War is a public health problem", the police launched an operation against the Association on January 30, 2018. Dr. Gökalp, the then Central Council member of the TTB, was among the detained physicians. The physicians were released after giving statements at the prosecutor's office and judgeship. (AS/SD)