Over thousand people turned themselves in to protest KCK arrests
Over thousand people turned themselves in to protest KCK arrests
At least 1220 people have turned themselves in in the last one month within the scope of the "I turn myself in" campaign launched on 16 November as a protest action by Kurdish organizations against “KCK” arrests evaluated as a “political blast”.
“We are members of the KCK, we want to be tried too” said demonstrators in their petitions against KCK operations which have been conducted regularly since 2009 and targeted all voices in solidarity with Kurds.
More than eight thousand people have been taken into custody in the context of the so called Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) operation. The number of those remanded in custody is around four thousand. Among the detainees are mayors, journalists, students, union members and human rights defenders.
Following a heavy blow on intellectuals, the wave of KCK operations have most recently targeted the right of defense. Lawyers of PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) Leader Abdullah Öcalan were remanded in custody on charges of conveying Öcalan’s messages to Kandil, which as a matter of fact the state itself has done until the election process in June of 2011. Within the last nine years, the process of AKP government, Turkey has turned into the biggest prison on the world.
Those remanded in custody at Turkish prisons today consist of over 70 journalists and authors, at least 38 lawyers, nearly 40 union members, 500 students, hundreds of children, 18 mayors, eight deputies and hundreds of elected representatives. The current conditions of human rights are not very different from those in Nazi Germany in 1930’s.
The protest campaign started with BDP Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaþ and Deputy Co-chair Gültan Kýþanak’s denouncing themselves to Istanbul and Diyarbakýr courts on 16 November. The campaign organization also consisted of two mass meetings on 20 November in Istanbul and on 3 December in Diyarbakýr. Meetings were joined by tens of thousands of people.
The partial figures of denouncements gathered from ANF and DIHA news agencies are as follows; 200 people in Aðrý, 165 in Adana, 151 in Istanbul, 150 in Ýzmir, 107 in Bitlis, 101 in Mardin, 100 in Mersin, 54 in Muþ, 35 in Hatay, 35 in Kars, 30 in Aydýn, 29 in Iðdýr, 26 in Elazýð, 25 in Bursa and 12 in Bilecik province.
While no information is available as to the figures in Diyarbakýr, the general number is thought to be higher when considering many individual applications in many cities.
The campaign continues in all provinces and districts with Kurdish population.
“We are members of the KCK, we want to be tried too” said demonstrators in their petitions against KCK operations which have been conducted regularly since 2009 and targeted all voices in solidarity with Kurds.
More than eight thousand people have been taken into custody in the context of the so called Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) operation. The number of those remanded in custody is around four thousand. Among the detainees are mayors, journalists, students, union members and human rights defenders.
Following a heavy blow on intellectuals, the wave of KCK operations have most recently targeted the right of defense. Lawyers of PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) Leader Abdullah Öcalan were remanded in custody on charges of conveying Öcalan’s messages to Kandil, which as a matter of fact the state itself has done until the election process in June of 2011. Within the last nine years, the process of AKP government, Turkey has turned into the biggest prison on the world.
Those remanded in custody at Turkish prisons today consist of over 70 journalists and authors, at least 38 lawyers, nearly 40 union members, 500 students, hundreds of children, 18 mayors, eight deputies and hundreds of elected representatives. The current conditions of human rights are not very different from those in Nazi Germany in 1930’s.
The protest campaign started with BDP Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaþ and Deputy Co-chair Gültan Kýþanak’s denouncing themselves to Istanbul and Diyarbakýr courts on 16 November. The campaign organization also consisted of two mass meetings on 20 November in Istanbul and on 3 December in Diyarbakýr. Meetings were joined by tens of thousands of people.
The partial figures of denouncements gathered from ANF and DIHA news agencies are as follows; 200 people in Aðrý, 165 in Adana, 151 in Istanbul, 150 in Ýzmir, 107 in Bitlis, 101 in Mardin, 100 in Mersin, 54 in Muþ, 35 in Hatay, 35 in Kars, 30 in Aydýn, 29 in Iðdýr, 26 in Elazýð, 25 in Bursa and 12 in Bilecik province.
While no information is available as to the figures in Diyarbakýr, the general number is thought to be higher when considering many individual applications in many cities.
The campaign continues in all provinces and districts with Kurdish population.
