The co-chair of the IHD office in Van, Mehmet Karakuş, said the arrests of over 50 opposition figures, including politicians, lawyers and journalists, is an attempt to intimidate society.
Hundreds of opposition politicians, journalists, lawyers, artists have been arrested in Turkey in the past few days. So far, 53 of them have been sent to prison by the Turkish judiciary on politically fabricated charges. The ongoing operations against the Kurdish and left-wing opposition represent a massive attempt at intimidation in the run-up to the elections on 14 May.
The co-chair of the human rights association IHD in Van, Mehmet Karakuş, called for the immediate release of the detainees.
Karakuş emphasized that such an attack by the regime was expected because the government carried out mass arrests against the democratic opposition before every election. The political Kurdish movement and the entire opposition were always put under pressure. Karakuş said: “The military police (Jandarma), the police and the entire bureaucracy exercise repression. This is the result of the policy of repression that is carried out by the judiciary. We have often seen such a situation in the field of human rights.”
Karakuş continued: “Arrest warrants were issued against 216 people as part of an investigation launched in Amed. A ban on lawyers was ordered, the file was kept secret. It is not about individuals, but about the achievements of the Kurdish political movement in the upcoming elections. The AKP-MHP alliance knows that they will lose. After 20 years, the government has reached an impasse and now wants to overcome it with these methods.”
Karakuş said that the judiciary is the means for the government to attack human rights activists, journalists, artists and politicians, and added: “The regime wants to maintain its power by focusing on new areas for the elections. If we look at the aims of the raids, it becomes clear that the aim of the judiciary is to intimidate lawyers, who have important tasks in the electoral process, and journalists, who ensure the public's right to independent news. The government cannot admit its failure and is therefore using all means possible. The government has done this countless times in the past and never reached its goal. Attacks on human rights bring defeat, not victory. The government wants to keep lawyers, politicians, artists and journalists off the election agenda. The operation has since expanded to Istanbul and may continue before 14 May. The goal is to prevent participation in the elections, but these violations will make the government lose and all attacks will come to nothing. Those arrested must be immediately released.”
