Academic’s home raided as part of coup probe

Saylan, 74, gave a speech from the window of her home yesterday, saying, "Those who use their democratic rights are being punished. What happened [to me] should not have been done to a patriotic person." Academics are among the people who have been caught up in the investigation of the alleged Ergenekon gang, which is accused of plotting to topple the government.

The ÇYDD chairwoman is undergoing cancer treatment at Istanbul University Hospital; she was at home on the day of the police raid with the permission of her doctors, daily Hürriyet reported yesterday. Her friend Aydeniz Tuskan told reporters that Saylan’s doctors want her to go back to the hospital, and that she had blood taken in the morning as a routine part of her treatment.

Tuskan said there were around 10 people in the house, looking at files on a table, during the raid. "If this is happening to us, who knows who else it will happen to," Saylan said from the window of her house, which is located in Istanbul’s Arnavutköy area. She seemed weak during her short speech and was covered with a blanket due to the cold weather. "We want to serve to our country, but look what happens to us," Saylan told the press and neighbors who had gathered outside. "Nobody wants the opposition and unfortunately we experience all this."

Her neighbors said they feared something bad had happened to Saylan when they saw the cars in front of her house. Born in Istanbul on Dec. 13, 1935, Saylan is the daughter of Fasih Galip, one of the first architects of the Turkish Republic, and Lili Mina Raiman, a Swiss woman who changed her name to Leyla after converting to Islam.