TURKIYE

Student arrested for receiving money from relatives abroad, charged with ‘terrorist financing’

ByTurkish Minute
June 1, 2024


A Turkish court on Friday arrested Esengül Arslan, a 23-year-old nursing student in İstanbul, for receiving funds sent by her relatives abroad, which authorities have labeled as “terrorist financing,” the Kronos news website reported.

Arslan was one of 90 people detained on Thursday on alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement.

Arslan’s brother Ömer Arslan announced his sister’s arrest on X.

“They arrested my sister Esengül Arslan. They’re playing with the future of a young woman. For what? Shouldn’t I have sent money? Shouldn’t I have helped her?” Ömer said.

Esengül’s mother, Gülizar Arslan, said her daughter told her, “Mom, I didn’t do anything bad. I have a clear conscience. Don’t worry!”

The Arslan family’s situation worsened after two major earthquakes that struck 11 provinces in Turkey’s south and southeast in February 2023 left more than 53,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands injured or displaced while causing massive devastation.

With Gülizar Arslan’s husband incarcerated and their home in ruins, Esengül Arslan had been a crucial source of support for her mother, working various jobs including teaching and housekeeping.

Esengül Arslan’s father, Aziz Arslan, a former teacher, was dismissed from his job by a government decree and later sentenced to 10 years on alleged links to the Gülen movement, based on his deposits to the now-closed Bank Asya and work at a school linked to the movement.

The Turkish government accepted such daily activities as having an account at or depositing money in a Gülen movement-affiliated bank, working at any institution linked to the movement or subscribing to certain newspapers and magazines as benchmarks for identifying and arresting tens of thousands alleged members of the movement on charges of membership in a terrorist organization.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations in 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch on July 15, 2016, that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.