According to Mezopotamya, among those detained by the police as part of the operation are the party’s Edirne Provincial Co-Chair Melahat Çelik, former Tekirdağ Provincial Co-Chair Alev Ateş, Kırıkkale Provincial Co-Chair Yakup Aslan, the Marmara Association for Solidarity with Prisoner and Convict Families (MATUHAYDER) director Cihan Kartal and the Migrants’ Association for Social Cooperation and Culture (Göç-Der) director Şeref Kaya, along with Abdurrahman Öztürk, Kenan Yıldız, Ömer Güven, Hüseyin Gözen, Emin Şen, Ercan Ogeday, Ramazan Kırkpınar and İrfan Hülakü.
As part of the operation carried out early on Friday, the police also searched the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK) headquarters in İstanbul’s Beyoğlu district and seized some materials, Mezopotamya said.
“Our eyes have been opened with the Tekirdağ detention frenzy, among which there are some of our co-chairs. Many of our friends are in custody. They’re trying to take away our right to do politics. We continue to struggle, to resist. Not long now…” the HDP’s İstanbul Provincial Co-Chair Ferhat Encü said in a tweet.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), together with its ally, the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), have long portrayed the HDP as the political front of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU and the US, and has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
