A 73-year-old Turkish prisoner convicted over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement died Monday after authorities kept him incarcerated despite his deteriorating health, repeated appeals for his release and warnings that he could die without urgent medical intervention, the TR724 news website reported.
Abdullah Tırpan died at İstanbul’s Başakşehir Çam and Sakura City Hospital, where he had been transferred from Metris Prison last week. His left leg was amputated below the knee on October 22 due to advanced gangrene, but doctors subsequently considered a second operation to remove more of the limb because the infection had spread farther up his leg.
His condition worsened following the surgery, and he was transferred to intensive care and placed on a ventilator on Sunday.
His daughter, Esra Tırpan Yakut, said Sunday that the family had learned of his transfer to intensive care through Turkey’s electronic health records system because they had not been adequately informed about his condition.
“My father’s heart stopped, and they are keeping it beating with medication,” she said, describing what the family had been told. “They have already intubated him. Please pray for him. There is nothing more we can do.”
Tırpan’s death came after months of appeals from his family, lawmakers and human rights advocates for the suspension of his prison sentence on medical grounds.
Despite suffering from diabetes, hypertension, nerve damage and serious circulatory problems, Tırpan had repeatedly been found fit to remain in prison by state medical authorities.
Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine, a state body responsible for assessing prisoners’ fitness to remain incarcerated, concluded on December 17, 2025, that he could continue serving his sentence. Medical boards at Tekirdağ City Hospital reached similar conclusions in May and June 2026.
The June report documented several chronic illnesses but concluded that Tırpan could manage his daily activities without assistance and did not require the suspension of his sentence. Another examination on October 6 reportedly found no medical obstacle to his continued imprisonment.
Independent lawmaker Mustafa Yeneroğlu, who visited Tırpan at Metris Prison earlier this month, warned on October 9 that the prisoner could die without urgent medical intervention.
Yeneroğlu said Tırpan had advanced gangrene, severe discoloration and large open wounds on his left leg. He was unable to stand or meet his basic needs on his own, according to the lawmaker, who questioned medical assessments finding him capable of remaining in prison.
Tırpan was serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for membership in an armed terrorist organization over his alleged involvement in the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has targeted the movement since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle. He dismissed the investigations as a Gülenist conspiracy and designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016, intensifying a sweeping crackdown after a coup attempt in July of that year that he accused Gülen of orchestrating. The movement denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Tırpan’s daughter appealed on X on October 20 for the suspension of her father’s sentence after doctors obtained the family’s consent to amputate his leg.
