A 15-year-old girl, whose mother is serving a prison sentence over alleged connections to the Gülen movement, was found dead in her bed last Thursday in Sakarya, a city in northwestern Turkey, in what appears to be an epilepsy-related incident, according to Turkish media reports.
Sümeyra Gelir had been looking after her two younger siblings ever since her mother, Melek Gelir—a former physics teacher—was imprisoned for alleged affiliation with the faith-based Gülen movement, inspired by the late cleric Fethullah Gülen.
Relatives and human rights advocates say the teenager, who had epilepsy, was under significant emotional strain and burdened by the responsibilities placed on her due to her mother’s incarceration.
“She didn’t die of illness; she died of injustice,” journalist Sevinç Özarslan wrote on X, sharing photos of Sümeyra and her mother from a recent prison visit.
“Sümeyra, just 15 years old, had to fill the role of both sister and mother to her siblings. The emotional burden made her ill, and she was receiving psychological treatment,” Sayın wrote. “Her mother was granted special permission to attend the funeral. Now, the younger children are left behind, and their mother has been sent back to prison without even having the chance to grieve.”
Melek Gelir is currently serving nearly seven years in Sakarya’s Ferizli Prison. Her sentence is tied to her former job at a private tutoring center affiliated with the Gülen movement — an institution closed by a post-coup emergency decree targeting organizations allegedly linked to the group.
Due to Melek Gelir’s imprisonment approximately 120 kilometers from her children, visitation was extremely difficult. Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party and a well-known human rights advocate, said he made repeated appeals for her transfer to a facility closer to her children in Bolu, but those requests were rejected.
“When I visited Melek Gelir in prison, she broke down in tears, pleading to be transferred closer to her children,” Gergerlioğlu posted on X. “But the justice ministry ignored her request.”
Human rights groups have extensively documented the lasting impact of widespread incarcerations on children. Many are left without one or both parents and are often placed in the care of extended family or institutional homes. The lack of stable parental presence has led to numerous reports of psychological trauma, depression, and developmental delays. In some instances, children have developed serious physical health conditions worsened by stress or inadequate care.
Sümeyra’s death has sparked comparisons with similar tragedies involving children of imprisoned parents. One of the most notable cases is that of Yusuf Kerim Sayın, a young boy who passed away in 2023 from a rare bone disease. His mother, detained due to alleged ties to the Gülen movement, was repeatedly denied release to care for him.
Though Sümeyra and her siblings lived with their father, she had taken on the main caregiving role while he worked to provide for the family.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan began targeting the Gülen movement after a 2013 corruption scandal implicated him and several close associates. Labeling the investigations a plot by Gülenists, Erdoğan branded the movement a terrorist organization and launched a wide-ranging crackdown. This intensified after the failed 2016 coup attempt, which Erdoğan blames on Fethullah Gülen — an accusation the movement firmly denies.
