28 people detained in KCK operation

ŞANLIURFA - Anatolia News Agency

Seven women, who were detained last week in Van were arrested yesterday. AA photo

Turkish police detained 28 people in five cities in Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) operations yesterday.

The KCK, the alleged urban wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), operations took place in Istanbul, Ankara, Diyarbakır, Eskişehir and Muş provinces. Twenty-eight people, including Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) provincial heads Fatma İzol, Mehmet Halis Aktaş and İbrahim Ogur, were detained.
Security forces also searched BDP buildings in several provinces, including a BDP Political Academy in the southeastern city of Şanlıurfa.

In response to KCK operations, BDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş said the operation was a political genocide. “People are arrested then presented as a ‘big blow to terror.’ The arrest warrants are sent to police by the AKP [ruling Justice and Development Party]. All the accusations against the KCK are illegal and immoral. Our friends are treated as hostages and captives. There is torture in the prisons. Naked body searches are conducted, and cells are too small for the people as they are for 15 people but the population is 30.”

Seven women, who were detained last week in Van under the KCK operations were arrested yesterday. Meanwhile, seven militants from the PKK were killed yesterday in clashes with Turkish security forces.