On Friday 28 August, Turkish police detained Esma Batmaz in Istanbul and Hilal Köseoğlu in Muğla in pre-dawn raids. The stated basis: they received assistance to study in Germany.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office alleges that a man living in Mannheim arranged education in Germany, through an education consultancy, for children of people imprisoned or prosecuted over alleged links to the Gülen movement. Its public statement named the two women only by their initials, cited no act by either of them beyond receiving that assistance, and did not specify what offence they are suspected of. It identified both through their fathers, who are imprisoned in Gülen-related cases.
Studying in an EU member state is now cited as an element of a terrorism investigation.
This is not isolated. In January a man was sentenced to seven and a half years for transferring around €1,300 to families of prisoners and dismissed public servants. In April, 42 people — most of them women — were detained over Ramadan aid to purged families.
In October 2025, eight UN special procedures mandates wrote to Ankara warning that international study, family ties, school choices and ordinary transfers were being treated as evidence of guilt without any proof of violence. They called it guilt by association, incompatible with the principle of individual responsibility (AL TUR 9/2025).
Sources:
https://x.com/DrUfukYesil33/status/2093296019437940750?s=20
https://x.com/istanbulCBS/status/2093236475101864268?s=20
https://www.ntv.com.tr/turkiye/feto-operasyonunda-yeni-gelisme-kemal-batmazin-kizi-yakalandi-1739247
Legal note
In Yüksel Yalçınkaya v. Türkiye [GC], no. 15669/20, 26 September 2023, the Grand Chamber found that convicting a person under Article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code without establishing the individual material and mental elements of the offence violated Article 7 ECHR. The Court identified this as a systemic problem and called for general measures.
In Yasak v. Türkiye [GC], no. 17389/20, 5 May 2026, the Grand Chamber restated the principle: Article 7 bars punishment without individual culpability. Intent cannot be presumed from association.
Turkey has not implemented Yalçınkaya. Cases like this one are the consequence.
