Many people, including 15 lawyers have been arrested in raids by police across Turkey for alleged links with a banned Marxist group.
Police forces launched raids in seven provinces early today (18th) against alleged members of the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), taking into custody at least 85 people, including 15 lawyers.
The lawyers are accused of “transferring instructions from organization leaders in prison to militants.”
Nine of the 15 lawyers are reportedly members of the Progressive Lawyers’ Association (CHD), including an executive board member of the association, Oya Aslan, and Istanbul branch head Taylan Tanay.
An arrest warrant has been also issued for the head of the association, Selçuk Kozağaçlı, after police failed to locate him during the raid.
Kozağaçlı speaking to the media over the phone has said that he was in Beirut and planning to return as soon as possible, but he did not know the exact reason for the raid on the CHD offices.
A police search was also conducted at the CHD headquarters in Ankara, while 17 people were detained in İzmir on charges of being members of the DHKP/C.
The CHD said in a written statement that the raids were “police terror against defense.”
“The state is in an all out attack against people and institutions that oppose the system and struggle for democracy and freedom,” a statement posted on the association’s website read. Anti-democratic legal arrangements and exercises aim to “suppress society and destroy the opposition,” the statement said, adding that the ÇHD would continue its current stance and “defend the right to defense until the end.”
The lawyers taken into custody, most of whom worked for The People’s Legal Aid Bureau, are known for their stance on human rights and torture issues. They have represented the victims in many of the notorious torture and police violence trials of the recent history.
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