Two Kurds have been arrested on terrorism charges in the southern Turkish coastal metropolis of Mersin. The two men - father and son - had already been in police custody for ten days. According to the police, the basis for the "preventive deprivation of liberty as a measure to prevent violence" was "information" that Abdulselam and Özgür Şen had wanted to carry out "illegal actions" on May 1, the working class' day of struggle. The arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Division of the Mersin District Court on Monday was then based on the accusation of alleged PKK membership and the alleged possession of explosives. Abdulselam Şen and his son were transferred to Tarsus Prison.

The arrests in Mersin took place on April 29 as part of widespread raids. The police stormed numerous apartments and detained a total of 18 people. Initially, however, only the arrests of ten alleged members of the Social Freedom Party (TÖP), founded in 2020, had become known. All of them have since been released.

In the run-up to the raids, the public prosecutor's office had a secrecy order imposed on the investigation file, so initially nothing was known about the reason for the arrests. In the meantime, it has emerged that all those concerned were accused of planning or preparing "forbidden actions" on the occasion of May Day. However, the accusation of PKK membership is only directed at Abdulselam and Özgür Şen. In the case of four TÖP activists, the charge was membership in the TKP-Kıvılcım.