Worthy candidate refused public post in Turkish Health Ministry because of political activity

Hacı Bişkin reports: A candidate who took Turkey's nationwide test for public posts was removed from his assignment at the Health Ministry because of a police probe that he had no prior knowledge of. Police said the investigation was prompted by the worker's participation in an event by a political party that they deemed "an extension of the PKK."

Thursday January 21 2021 02:00 pm

Hacı Bişkin / DUVAR

A successful candidate who took the nationwide test to assign persons with disabilities to public posts (EKPSS) was denied employment because of their participation in "an event organized by a party "that is an extension of" the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization by Ankara.

Identified only as S.D., the successful EKPSS candidate's assignment as a data controller with the Health Ministry was suspended suddenly as a result of a security investigation about him that he had no prior knowledge of.

S.D. eventually found out that the investigation was prompted by his participation at a political event, most likely the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), although police did not specify which organization's event they referred to.

S.D. was also investigated by police because his brother and sister work at institutions that were shut down with state of emergency decrees after the failed coup attempt of 2016, a method often employed by Ankara to silence critics.

In a petition defending that the presumption of innocence was not upheld in S.D.'s case, his attorney Mensur Çil asked the police and the Health Ministry to elaborate on the factors that prevented his client's employment.

"My client was not employed for a post he more than deserves because he's not a member of a certain political party and didn't employ nepotism to rob others of their posts," the attorney said.

S.D. is seeking up to 200,000 Turkish liras in damages, along with an immediate reinstatement of their job assignment.