Terror charges handed to 26 suspects in Ankara leg of 2013 Gezi protests

Mesut Hasan Benli – ANKARA

Ankara prosecutors on Dec. 4 prepared an indictment against 26 people on charges of “membership of an armed terror organization” after they attended the 2013 Gezi protests in the Turkish capital. 

The indictment includes as evidence for the alleged crime the fact that several political books as well as a business card of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Levent Gök were found during house raids of the suspects. 

It underlines that many public employees and civilians were harmed during the Gezi protests due to “violence committed by protestors,” adding that stores and vehicles were also damaged. 

It is also noted that terrorist organizations were “directly involved” in the protests and attempted to turn them into an uprising through “manipulations.” 

The 26 people included in the indictment are charged with being members of nine different organizations, mostly left-leaning groups including the far left outlawed militant Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C). The indictment noted that the demonstrators bore the emblems of these leftist groups during the protests and chanted their slogans. 

The indictment also states that the suspects carried out hunger strikes during their time in custody, which supposedly strengthened suspicion that they had connections to outlawed terror groups.