'I won't stay at home, of course not'

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Nazan Bozkurt, who was dismissed as a public employee by a statutory decree more than three years ago, has been taking part in the "I want my job back" protests in the capital Ankara's Yüksel Street since then.

On June 10, she was sentenced to house arrest, for the third time in three years.

We called her and asked if she was at home. "Of course not," she replied, laughing.

"The judge gave a decision in my absence, didn't take my statement"

Bozkurt spoke to bianet after attending a press meeting in Yüksel Street today (June 19):

"I was sentenced to house arrest by the judgeship's decision on June 10. But the judge gave the verdict in my absence. After the prosecutor's office referred me to the judgeship, I was brought to the door of the court with the police but I found out that the verdict about me was written without me giving a defense statement and appearing before the judge. At that moment, I was waiting at the court's door, the judge could summon me and read out the verdict to my face."

The police officer who broke her bone wasn't prosecuted

Bozkurt said that Ankara 2nd Penal Judgeship of Peace decided her to be held under house arrest with an electronic bracelet. Although she had seven days to appeal the verdict, police officers came to her home every day within this time to put an electronic bracelet on her, Bozkurt noted, adding that they had to go back because she wasn't at home.

"I will resort to legal appeal proceedings. But during this period, I don't recognize the house arrest verdict and will not stay at home. They didn't recognize the Civil Servants' Act when dismissing me, they didn't recognize the Constitution when disregarding our appeals, they violated the Turkish Penal Code when we were tortured. Then I don't recognize this unlawful and illegal verdict of house arrest."

Bozkurt, as always, attended the press meeting on Yüksel Street today and took footage of the demonstration.

While Bozkurt was sentenced to house arrest for "resisting the police," a decision of non-prosecution was given regarding a police officer who beat her and broke her suborbital bone. After his appeal was rejected, Bozkurt applied to the Constitutional Court about this verdict.

What happened?

Working at Çankaya District Civil Registry Office since 2007, Nazan Bozkurt was dismissed from her post by Statutory Decree No. 683 on January 23, 2017. Since then, she has been taking part in the "I want my job back," protests.

The state of emergency commission rejected her applications to be reinstated on the grounds of the protests she attended.

She had told bianet that there were not any investigations against her before her dismissal. "According to the state of emergency commission's decision, the reason for my dismissal in 2017 was the case opened against me in 2018," she had said. (AS/VK)