At least 42 people arrested in new KCK operation - UPDATE
At least 42 people arrested in new KCK operation - UPDATE
At least 42 people have been taken into custody early Tuesday morning in simultaneous Mersin centered KCK (Kurdish Communities Union) operations in the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Diyarbakýr, Dersim and Batman.
Among those arrested in Mersin are Dicle News Agency reporter Ferhat Arslan, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chairs Musa Kullu and Aynur Aþan, BDP PM members, Human Rights Association (IHD) Mersin Branch Chair Ali Tanrýverdi, ÝÞTAR Press Counsellor Roza Yaruk, Akdeniz Municipality workers, MKM (Mesopotamia Cultural Center) members as well as BDP executives and members.
Police teams of Mersin Anti-Terror Branch have carried out simultaneous raids at around 05:00 this morning in the province of Mersin. BDP Akdeniz Municipality’s ÝÞTAR Counseling Center for Women’s Solidarity, BDP Mersin Politics Academy, BDP Mersin office and more than 40 other addresses were raided with the support of special operation and mobile force police teams.
Apart from 35 detainees in Mersin, seven others who were arrested in four other cities, Adana, Diyarbakýr, Batman and Dersim were also taken to Mersin after detentions.
Turkish police carried out a seperate operation in Þýrnak's Silopi district where seven people, five of whom are minors, were taken into custody at midnight hours. The reaspn for detentions hasn't been disclosed yet.
Thousands of people have been arrested in the scope of so-called KCK operations which started in the April of 2009, one month after the local elections where Kurds achieved a historic success. Six deputies of the BDP, over 30 mayors, dozens of journalists, around 70 unionists, over 30 lawyers, a number of human rights defenders and intellectuals as well as hundreds of woman activists, students and children have been under arrest since the beginning of the operations.
In a series of police operations beginning on 14 April 2009 and referred to in the press as the "KCK operations", 151 people were detained on the basis of alleged links to illegal organizations. These people included lawyers, mayors, politicians, trade unionists, and human rights activists, and were recently brought to trial together in Diyarbakir, Turkey.
As the KCK is alleged to be the civil/political wing of the outlawed group and is, therefore, also an illegal organization. Members of the pro- Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) have been accused of being members of these illegal organizations. Only 15 days after the party's significant gain in the March 2009 local elections, where it won 50 municipalities, mass raids were carried out at the homes, businesses and offices of mayors, party activists, human rights advisors, lawyers and many others, pursuant to the KCK operations.
The subsequent trial relating to the KCK operations began on 18 October 2010 at the Special State Penal Court. By the time the trial began many of the defendants had been in custody for a period of 18 months. Much of the evidence had apparently been gathered from wiretapping and phone bugging, and there was a lack of clarity regarding the exact charges, and the basis for such charges, against each defendant.
Among those arrested in Mersin are Dicle News Agency reporter Ferhat Arslan, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chairs Musa Kullu and Aynur Aþan, BDP PM members, Human Rights Association (IHD) Mersin Branch Chair Ali Tanrýverdi, ÝÞTAR Press Counsellor Roza Yaruk, Akdeniz Municipality workers, MKM (Mesopotamia Cultural Center) members as well as BDP executives and members.
Police teams of Mersin Anti-Terror Branch have carried out simultaneous raids at around 05:00 this morning in the province of Mersin. BDP Akdeniz Municipality’s ÝÞTAR Counseling Center for Women’s Solidarity, BDP Mersin Politics Academy, BDP Mersin office and more than 40 other addresses were raided with the support of special operation and mobile force police teams.
Apart from 35 detainees in Mersin, seven others who were arrested in four other cities, Adana, Diyarbakýr, Batman and Dersim were also taken to Mersin after detentions.
Turkish police carried out a seperate operation in Þýrnak's Silopi district where seven people, five of whom are minors, were taken into custody at midnight hours. The reaspn for detentions hasn't been disclosed yet.
Thousands of people have been arrested in the scope of so-called KCK operations which started in the April of 2009, one month after the local elections where Kurds achieved a historic success. Six deputies of the BDP, over 30 mayors, dozens of journalists, around 70 unionists, over 30 lawyers, a number of human rights defenders and intellectuals as well as hundreds of woman activists, students and children have been under arrest since the beginning of the operations.
In a series of police operations beginning on 14 April 2009 and referred to in the press as the "KCK operations", 151 people were detained on the basis of alleged links to illegal organizations. These people included lawyers, mayors, politicians, trade unionists, and human rights activists, and were recently brought to trial together in Diyarbakir, Turkey.
As the KCK is alleged to be the civil/political wing of the outlawed group and is, therefore, also an illegal organization. Members of the pro- Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) have been accused of being members of these illegal organizations. Only 15 days after the party's significant gain in the March 2009 local elections, where it won 50 municipalities, mass raids were carried out at the homes, businesses and offices of mayors, party activists, human rights advisors, lawyers and many others, pursuant to the KCK operations.
The subsequent trial relating to the KCK operations began on 18 October 2010 at the Special State Penal Court. By the time the trial began many of the defendants had been in custody for a period of 18 months. Much of the evidence had apparently been gathered from wiretapping and phone bugging, and there was a lack of clarity regarding the exact charges, and the basis for such charges, against each defendant.
