Seventeen activists were arrested in Istanbul on Saturday during a leaflet campaign. The action, which was organised by members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), the Revolutionary Party (DP), the Socialist Solidarity Platform (SODAP) and the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) in the Kadikoy district, was aimed at drawing attention to the commemoration ceremony for the victims of the ISIS massacre in Suruç, which will be held in front of the Süreyya Opera House next Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of the massacre.

The action was quickly disrupted by police officers rushing to the scene. Because of an alleged violation of the pandemic rules, the activists were asked to stop distributing the leaflets. They then chanted slogans, followed by an assault by several police officers. Among the detainees who were taken to the police station in Kadikoy, are the co-chairs of the provincial associations of ESP and SDGF, Ezgi Bahçeci and Alev Özkiraz, among others.

Suruç massacre

On 20 July 2015, ISIS member Abdurrahman Alagöz, who was observed by the police, committed a suicide attack in the Suruç district of Urfa when 300 young people gathered at the Amara Cultural Centre at the call of SGDF to hold a press conference before their departure to Kobanê. The planned trip to Northern Syria was supposed to be an act of solidarity. The young people wanted to take children's toys and humanitarian aid to the city destroyed by the ISIS. 33 young people were killed and 104 others injured.