50 People in Custody following Police Raids

The police has raided several organisations, among them the Socialist Platform of the Oppressed (ESP), Atılım newspaper, and the Women Workers’ Association (EKD) in six provinces. A total of 50 people has been taken into custody, 25 of them in Istanbul.

The police entered the ESP office in Beyoğlu, central Istanbul, in the morning hours (10 March), using a locksmith. Although no one was at the office, they searched it.

The Güneş Agency in the Aksaray neighbourhood of Istanbul, which provides technical support for the Atılım newspaper, was also raided in the early morning. The search in the office is continuing, and reporter Çetin Poyraz has been taken into custody.

Editor Figen Yüksekdağ and reporter Önder Öner were taken into custody from their homes.

The homes of Hacı Orman, the head of the Foundation for Science, Education, Esthetics, Culture and Arts Research (BEKSAV), and Alp Altınörs, coordinator of the Nazım Hikmet Marxist Sciences Academy were searched and the two men taken into custody..

The computer of Cem Dinç, the president of the Limter-İş shipbuilders’ trade union, was confiscated.

The raids and detentions in Istanbul were ordered by the Istanbul 10th Heavy Penal Court. No explanation has been given for the raids in Ankara, Izmir, Hatay, Mersin and Adana.

The other people taken into custody in Istanbul are:

Münevver İltemur, Tuğba Gümüş and Fatma Siner from the EKD board, Serap Ünal from the Socialist Youth Assocation (SGD), Hatice Aydemir, Hasan Ozan, İrfan Gerçek, Zelal Armutlu, Bülent Kapar, Abbas Duman, Erhan Çalparmak, Tarık Tepeli, Kurtuluş Sarıkaya, Yüksel Bulut, Aşur İşbilir, Yeşim Sönmez, Hızır Uzundağ, and Sevilay Ateşçi from the ESP, as well as Yücel and Eylem (whose surnames are not known) from the same organisation.

Search in Ankara continuing

The ESP branch office in Ankara has also been raided and the search is continuing. Ankara’s ESP representative Alihan Alhan, as well as Bahtiyar, Cebrail, Serdar and Savaş (surnames not known) from the same organisation were taken into custody.

Mayoral candidate in detention

In Hatay, the police has taken Muhsin Çobanoğlu into custody. He is an ESP representative and at the same time a candidate for mayor supported by several groups from the left.

In Hatay Gökben Keskin and İlker Tatlı Pınar were taken into custody; in Mersin Hacer Koçak, Erden Fesli, Esat Süner, Seher Kilisli, Deniz Melih Özşen; in Izmir Şerife Erbay from the SGD; in Adana Hülya Gerçek from the ESP, as well as Seval Gündoğan, Yasemin Tuğcu, Barış Çırpan and İbrahim Yapıcı.

The Istanbul 10th Heavy Penal Court which decided on the raids in Istanbul has been hearing a court case on 23 alleged members of the Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) since 2006. (SÇ/BÇ/AG)

*This news item is based on information from Özgür Radio.