A former police chief who was dismissed by a government decree following a coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016 and subsequently convicted on terrorism charges died of brain cancer Monday night, just six months after his release from prison, the TR724 news website reported.
Cengiz Çakıltepe, 54, was diagnosed with a brain tumor while in prison. Although he underwent surgery, the tumor could not be fully removed. He endured a 16-month ordeal after the surgery, the majority of which he spent behind bars.
Çakıltepe served for a long time at the Düzce Provincial Police Department but was reassigned to Burdur as a third-class police chief in what was considered a punitive transfer following the December 17-25, 2013 bribery and corruption investigations, which implicated the sons of three cabinet ministers as well as the son of then-prime minister and current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The December 2013 investigations involved state-owned Halkbank and shook the country at the time.
Despite the scandal resulting in the resignation of the cabinet members, the investigations were dropped after prosecutors and police chiefs were removed from the case. Erdoğan, officials of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the pro-government media described the investigations as an attempt to overthrow the government.
Dismissing the investigations as a conspiracy against his government by the Gülen movement, a group inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, Erdoğan designated the faith-based movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members.
He locked up thousands, including many prosecutors, judges and police officers involved in the investigations.
Erdoğan intensified the crackdown on the movement following the coup attempt in July 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the abortive putsch or any terrorist activity.
Following the coup attempt, Çakıltepe was sentenced to six years, 10 months in prison, which he served in a facility in Isparta province. He was charged with having links to the movement.
Turkey’s AKP government declared a state of emergency following the abortive putsch that remained in effect until July 19, 2018. During the state of emergency, the AKP carried out a purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight by issuing a number of government decrees, known as KHKs, firing some 130,000 civil servants from their jobs due to their real or alleged connections to “terrorist organizations.”
One consequence of the purge was the imprisonment of many critically ill individuals, some of whom died from their condition while incarcerated.
According to Law No. 5275, the sentence of a prisoner who due to a serious illness or disability is unable to manage life on their own under prison conditions and who is not considered a serious danger to society may be suspended until they recover. However, the stipulated suspension of sentence is often not implemented.
A report by the Human Rights Association revealed there were currently at least 1,412 sick inmates, including hundreds who are critically ill, being held in prison.
The report, based on information gathered from prisoner families, lawyers and prison visits, found that 335 prisoners are in critical condition, with 230 unable to manage their basic daily needs by themselves.
