Diyarbakır deputy governor proposes to judge detained over Gülen links

Diyarbakır’s deputy governor responsible for security, Mehmet Demir, proposed to detainee Fatma Çimen, who he first met a year ago, by sending her a wedding ring via her lawyer. 

“I want to marry her under any circumstances, even if she is not allowed to return to her job she would be the woman of her house,” read a note that Demir penned alongside the ring. 

Çimen, who was working as a judge at the Diyarbakır Tax Court, was suspended from duty in the wake of the July 15 coup attempt and was later detained over alleged links to the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ).
After her detention, Demir reportedly visited her in jail and later decided to propose through the lawyer he arranged to defend her. 

However, Çimen has rejected Demir’s marriage proposal and returned the ring he sent. 

She has since appeared at court and was released on probation, after her prosecutor’s interrogation, during which Demir again visited her. 

Sources reportedly said Demir had been making marriage plans for a long time and previously proposed to a number of other female public servants.

Demir has denied that he proposed to Çimen, but stressed that it would not be a scandal if he had done because Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly encouraged citizens to marry and have “at least three children.”

“I did not propose. But I could do so. Doesn’t our respected president say ‘get married’?” Demir said.