35-year veteran physician dismissed over press statement
Dr. Ayşe Uğurlu, a member of the Turkish Medical Association's Human Rights Branch Executive Committee, has been dismissed from public service on charges of "insulting the President" for reading a press statement by the Ankara Women's Platform. Uğurlu reacted to the decision, stating, "I will return and continue to practice good medicine."
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The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) announced that a "dismissal from public service" penalty was issued against Ayşe Uğurlu, a member of its Human Rights Branch Executive Committee, following an investigation.
Speaking to Sendika.org about the matter, Uğurlu said, "We will initiate the legal process following this decision. I will return and continue to practice good medicine."
Uğurlu stated the following:
"An investigation was launched against me on charges of insulting the President because I read the text at the Ankara Women's Platform's press conference. The statement read at the press conference was within the scope of freedom of thought and expression as defined in the Constitution.
The investigation against me was opened because I uphold the values of good medical practice and because I fight for human rights, women's rights, and democracy. Practicing good medicine is not a crime. It is also a part of my professional activity. I was dismissed for doing these things.
We will initiate the legal process following this decision. I will return and continue to practice good medicine."
ATO: "SHE MUST BE REINSTATED"
The Ankara Medical Chamber (ATO) issued the following statement regarding the penalty given to Uğurlu:
"A new instance of lawlessness has been added to those in our country today. Dr. Ayşe Uğurlu, who served as a member of the Ankara Medical Chamber Board of Directors in the past, has been punished by having her right to work taken away for exercising her right to freedom of thought and expression.
The 'dismissal from public service' penalty, which deprives Dr. Ayşe Uğurlu—who has worked in the public sector for 35 years in light of good medical values and has served her country and the field of human rights for years—of her profession and constitutional rights, is incompatible with democracy and the principle of a social state governed by the rule of law.
Freedom of thought and expression is guaranteed as a fundamental human right in our Constitution and in international conventions to which Turkey is a party.
Dr. Ayşe Uğurlu, who is a citizen, a woman, a physician, and a human rights defender, must be reinstated to her position."
WHAT WAS AYŞE UĞURLU ACCUSED OF?
With the disciplinary investigation initiated by the Ministry of Health Inspection Board on April 7, 2025, Dr. Ayşe Uğurlu was asked for a defense with a request for "dismissal from civil service" on the grounds of "engaging in disgraceful and shameful acts of a nature and degree incompatible with the status of a civil servant," as stated in the Civil Servants Law.
The act subject to the accusation is participating in a press conference organized by the Ankara Women's Platform at the Mülkiyeliler Birliği on May 24, 2023, regarding the 2023 Presidential election, and reading the statement made on behalf of the platform.
It was alleged that the text read at the press conference was of a nature that "damages and offends the honor and dignity of the Presidential office and constitutes an insult."