A man is silhouetted against a giant Turkish flag in an Istanbul airport on July 16, 2016.HUSEYIN ALDEMIR/Reuters
The wife and children of a Calgary imam jailed in Turkey have been able to safely leave the country, Davud Hanci's sister-in-law said Tuesday.
After Hanci was arrested last month for allegedly helping orchestrate a coup attempt, friends and family expressed concern for the safety of his wife, Rumeysa, and their two young sons, who were also in Turkey at the time.
Relatives say Hanci had nothing to do with the coup, and had taken his family to Turkey to visit his ailing father in the city of Trabzon.
Rumeysa called her sister, Ruveyda Durmus, in Toronto during a layover in Munich to let her know she and her sons were safe. Rumeysa and the boys, who are eight and nine, were due to land in Calgary Tuesday night.
Durmus said it was a relief to hear from her sister.
"Right now, they are arresting anybody (in Turkey) because they declared a state of emergency," she said. "We were so scared that they could have arrested her, too."
Hanci has been accused in Turkish media reports of having ties to Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric that the Turkish government accuses of masterminding the coup. Gulen, a former ally turned critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has denied any involvement.
The failed July 15 coup saw renegade Turkish military officers using jets, helicopters and tanks try to take power in a night of violence that left more than 270 people dead. Since then, about 18,000 people have been detained or arrested and nearly 70,000 others suspected of links to Gulen have been suspended or dismissed from the civil service, judiciary, military and health and educational institutions.
Rumeysa has not been able to see her husband since she was allowed a minute-long visit at a police station shortly after his arrest, said Durmus, who said Hanci has since been moved to a prison elsewhere.
"We think he's OK. So far, that is what we're hoping for," she said.
Rumeysa was allowed a phone call with her husband about a week ago and he told her he was all right, Durmus said.
Family members are trying to hire a lawyer for Hanci, but given the political climate, no one has yet been willing to take on that risk, Durmus added.
Family friend Malik Muradov said he wants Ottawa to impress upon Turkish authorities how unlikely it is Hanci could have plotted the coup.
Hanci's job in Calgary involves providing spiritual counselling to prison inmates and he is active in the community, said Muradov, who runs the Intercultural Dialogue Institute, where Hanci has volunteered.
"He's a normal citizen. He doesn't have the capacity to organize thousands of people in Turkey. It doesn't make sense."
Another Turkish Canadian, Ilhan Erdem, was arrested last month at Instanbul's Ataturk Airport while preparing to board a flight to Canada with his wife and two children, according to a family friend.
– With files from The Associated Press