82-year-old Makbule Özer was arrested on 9 May 2022, on charges of  "aiding an organization” in the Edremit (Artemêt) district of Van (Wan) and released on 7 September that year, only to be arrested again a few months later, after the Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) reported that she “could remain in prison."

The ill woman was released after completing her 254-day sentence.

Background

Makbule Özer was arrested last year along with her husband Hadi Özer for “supporting terrorism”. The couple were sentenced to over two years in prison. In the case of Makbule Özer, the sentence was suspended for one year due to her poor health. 

On 23 July 2018, Turkish police anti-terror units stormed the house of Makbule and Hadi Özer in Edremit. Seventeen people were there at the time, including four minors. The elderly couple, three family members and an acquaintance were terrorized, insulted, beaten and threatened by the officers for around three hours.

They were then arrested and questioned in police custody for two days. The transfer to the responsible public prosecutor's office took place on 26 July. Şükran Yıldız, who was visiting the Özers on the day of the raid, was arrested for alleged PKK membership. Makbule, Hadi, Medeni, Übeydullah and Emrullah Özer were released.

The background to the raid was an incident that occurred a good week earlier in the Rêya Armûşê (Ipekyolu) district, 45 kilometers northeast. On the night of 15 July 2018, special paramilitary units of the Turkish police carried out an operation in a house on Yalım Erez Street. Two YPS (Civil Defense Units) members had barricaded themselves there. Only later did it become known that they were Metin Ünalmış (Numan Serhat) and Bilal Şimşek (Serhıldan Ararat). Both fighters initially fought a battle with the operational units. The YPS named two dead and six injured police officers. The Turkish governor only spoke of three wounded officers. Only the two people "who prepared an illegal action" are dead.

Human rights organizations expressed the suspicion that Metin Ünalmış and Bilal Şimşek may have been victims of extrajudicial executions when their ammunition ran out. Several arrests were made that same night.