A two-time cancer surviving professor, who was sacked by a decree law following the July 2016 coup attempt, was denied a passport he sought to travel abroad for advanced treatment, despite having no travel ban.
Psychotherapist Haluk Savaş, who was dismissed from his job amid a government crackdown in the aftermath of failed putsch, went to the Adana Governorship, to obtain a passport so that he could travel abroad with hopes of receiving treatment, he explained on Twitter.
‘’The official looked at the information on a computer and told me that they cannot reissue a passport for me because my passport had been cancelled by a decree law.’’ Savaş said.
‘’Evidently, the lifting of my travel ban means nothing and, the decree law condemns us death in Turkey,’’ he added.
Şavaş explained that he was looking to receive immunotherapy, which helps to strengthen or restore the immune system’s ability to fight cancer, in countries such as the United States or Japan.
Savaş said doctors had given him 39 months to live, 30 of which had already passed.
”It appears that the rest of 9 months will be wasted while communicating with the Turkish authorities convincing them to issue a passport,” he said.
More than 130,000 public servants were summarily dismissed by government decreeduring two years of emergency rule declared following a coup attempt in July 2016. Many faced travel bans. The government crackdown mainly targeted the Gülen movement, a religious group accused of orchestrating the coup attempt, but also spread to take in other opposition groups.