In the Sarıyer district of Istanbul, almost thirty apartments and properties in the self-organized left-wing Küçük Armutlu neighborhood were searched by the police on Friday.

In addition to the Alevi Cem Ev (Cem House) and the “Vefa Evi” and the “Resistance House” of the music band Grup Yorum was also raided. Here, lawyer Aytaç Ünsal is still recovering from a hunger strike he went on in February this year.

The lawyer had been on death fast for a total of 215 days, demanding a fair trial. One day after his release in September, he called off the hunger strike.

As Ünsal told ANF, the police broke the entrance door of the resistance house with a sledgehammer without warning. Then the small Gecekondu ("set up overnight") building was filled with dozens of heavily armed police officers. During the search, long guns were pointed at Ünsal and his guardian. After the house was ransacked, the police left again.

Five arrests in the Cem Ev

Five people have been taken into custody in the Alevi community and meeting house. “Legal Office of the People” (HHB) criticized the raid at Aytaç Ünsal with harsh words and described it as “fascist state terror”.

Küçük Armutlu: Almost forty years of resistance

In Küçük Armutlu, a Gecekondu district that was founded by Alevi revolutionaries and workers in the early 1980s, to counter the state-controlled gentrification is being run autonomously. The AKP government has declared many districts in Istanbul to be areas of “urban transformation”, including Küçük Armutlu.

The district is located near the second Bosporus Bridge and has a spectacular view. As an expensive land of speculation, it is therefore at the center of interest for profit-hungry real estate sharks. The population, however, has always been highly organized politically. Projects are implemented without government approval and very often only after massive resistance against the authorities and the police. For almost four decades, collective resistance has been put up against state repression.