In Van, an 80-year-old woman and her husband, who is a year younger, have been arrested on the basis of a final sentence of two and a half years in prison. They are accused of "supporting a terrorist organization."
The arrest of Makbule and Hadi Özer is described by Kurdish users as a practical expression of anti-Kurdish racism in Turkey and the enemy criminal law willingly practiced by the judiciary. The 80-year-old woman from Van and her one-year-younger husband were remanded in custody yesterday. They are to spend the next two and a half years in jail, if they survive the Turkish prisons' everyday life at all. The reason for this is a sentence against the elderly couple confirmed by the Court of Cassation in Ankara. The charge: "support for a terrorist organization" - meaning the PKK.
Anti-terrorist units of the Turkish police stormed the house of Makbule and Hadi Özer in the Edremit district,on July 23, 2018. The elderly couple, as well as three family members and an acquaintance, were terrorized, insulted, beaten and threatened by the officers for around three hours. They were then arrested and questioned in police custody for two days. On July 26, they were transferred to the prosecutor's office. Şükran Yıldız, who was visiting the Özers on the day of the raid, was arrested for alleged PKK membership, while Makbule, Hadi, Medeni, Übeydullah and Emrullah Özer were released.
The background to the raid is an incident that took place a good week earlier in the Ipekyolu district. On the night of July 15, 2018, Turkish police paramilitary special forces conducted an operation at a house on Yalım Erez Street where two YPS (Civilian Defense Units) members had barricaded themselves. Only later did it become known that they were Metin Ünalmış (Numan Serhat) and Bilal Şimşek (Serhıldan Ararat). Both fighters initially engaged in a skirmish with the operation units. The YPS cited two dead and six wounded among the police, while the Turkish governor spoke only of three wounded officers, claiming that the dead were only the two people "who had prepared an illegal action".
At the time, residents said the following as to what happened: "At around 0:00 a.m., the neighborhood was cordoned off with dozens of vehicles. At around 0.20 a.m., two shots were first heard. Then there was silence for an hour. This was followed by gunshots and two explosions. After that, the gunfire did not stop until 5:00 am. At around 6:00 a.m., the police with their tanks pulled out of the neighborhood."
Human rights organizations suggested that Metin Ünalmış and Bilal Şimşek may have been victims of extralegal executions when their ammunition ran out.
