{"id":42854,"date":"2026-03-18T15:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/42854\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T15:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:32:08","slug":"ailing-cancer-survivor-jailed-in-unsanitary-turkish-prison-over-gulen-links-raising-concerns-of-health-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/42854\/","title":{"rendered":"Ailing cancer survivor jailed in unsanitary Turkish prison over G\u00fclen links, raising concerns of health risks\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/stockholmcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/nerminvarol1.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"464\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- alt=\"\" title=\"nerminvarol1\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/nerminvarol1-696x464.jpg\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"464\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/nerminvarol1-696x464.jpg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"nerminvarol1\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A Turkish teacher who previously underwent extensive cancer treatment is being held in an overcrowded and unsanitary prison ward after being convicted of links to the G\u00fclen movement, raising concerns that the conditions could endanger her health.<\/p>\n<p>Nermin Varol, a former religion teacher at a private school in the Black Sea province of Sinop, was taken into custody on March 5 after the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld her six-year, three-month prison sentence. She is being held at a women\u2019s prison in Ankara, where relatives say her ward regularly houses twice its intended capacity. They described conditions that are unhygienic, adding that some inmates sleep on the floor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe risk of the cancer progressing is always there,\u201d a relative said.<\/p>\n<p>Varol was convicted of membership in a terrorist organization in a case linked to the faith-based G\u00fclen movement. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tr724.com\/dini-sohbet-yaptigi-icin-ceza-verilen-kanser-hastasi-ogretmen-cezaevinde\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TR724 news website<\/a>, the accusations against Varol relied solely on witness testimony claiming that she organized religious discussion gatherings linked to the G\u00fclen movement.<\/p>\n<p>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan has targeted followers of the G\u00fclen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah G\u00fclen, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle. He dismissed the probes as a G\u00fclenist conspiracy and later designated the movement a terrorist organization in May 2016, intensifying a sweeping crackdown after a coup attempt in July of the same year that he accused G\u00fclen of orchestrating. The movement denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.<\/p>\n<p>Varol was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016. She later underwent several operations in which her breast, uterus and thyroid were removed due to the risk of metastasis and received chemotherapy before being placed under periodic medical monitoring. According to relatives, she requires medical checkups every six months.<\/p>\n<p>Attempts to secure Varol\u2019s release on medical grounds have so far failed. Turkish law allows courts to suspend sentences for inmates who cannot sustain their lives independently, a threshold relatives say has proven difficult to meet despite medical reports submitted on her behalf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Turkish teacher who previously underwent extensive cancer treatment is being held in an overcrowded and unsanitary prison&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[422,423,425,426,311,312,427,428,24289,429,431,131,132,155],"class_list":{"0":"post-42854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-ak-party","9":"tag-akp","10":"tag-democracy","11":"tag-erdogan","12":"tag-gulen-movement","13":"tag-human-rights","14":"tag-justice","15":"tag-law","16":"tag-nermin-varol","17":"tag-oppression","18":"tag-rule-of-law","19":"tag-stockholm","20":"tag-sweden","21":"tag-turkey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116250905732382660","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}