Rümeysa Berin Şen, a 25-year-old medical doctor and the daughter of purge-victim Turkish professor, Murat Şen, died late on Saturday in a traffic accident in Capital Ankara.
According to the Turkish media, Berin’s vehicle crashed into the back of the truck at very high speed in Çankaya district. She was an assistant doctor in the Gynecological Clinic of Ankara City Hospital.
According to tweets posted by journalist Sevinç Özarslan, Murat Şen, former dean of the Melihşah University’s Faculty of Law, has been in prison since February 8, 2018 over alleged links to the Gulen group, which the Turkish government accuses of masterminding a coup attempt in 2016. The group denies any involvement.
Following the coup attempt that killed 249 people and wounded more than a thousand others, the Turkish government declared a State of Emergency and issued dozens of emergency decrees, known as KHK, to purge its critics from state bodies.
So far, a total of 6021 academics were dismissed by gov’t decrees No. 672/673/674 issued on Sept. 1, 2016, No.675/676 issued on Oct. 29, 2016, No. 677/678 issued on Nov. 22, 2016, No.679/680/681 issued on Jan. 6, 2017, No.686/687 issued on Feb. 7, 2017, No.689 issued on April 29, No.692 issued on July 14, 2017, No.693/694 issued on August 25, 2017. Also, immediately after the failed putsch, the Turkish government passed a decree ordering the closure of 15 universities and 800 student dorms across Turkey. The shutting down of the universities has left 61,382 students in academic limbo.
Those dismissed were accused of having links to either the Gulen movement, outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or other alleged terror groups. TurkeyPurge