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Three other people, who were detained on November 16 as part of the operation against academics and civil society representatives, have been released. One person, who was referred to court, has been arrested.
Producer Çiğdem Mater and civil society worker Ayşegül Güzel were released yesterday night (October 17) after their depositions. Rights defender Yusuf Cıvır, who had been referred to court, was also released on probation after deposing at the court.
Having been referred to the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan, Yiğit Aksakoğlu, Bernard von Leer Foundation representative, was arrested.
What happened?
An operation was launched against two academics from Boğaziçi and İstanbul Bilgi Universities and people from civil society on November 16. It was reported that a detention warrant had been issued against 20 people.
As part of the operation, the following 13 people were taken into custody: Prof. Dr. Betül Tanbay from the Department of Mathematics at Boğaziçi University and an Academic for Peace signatory to the declaration "We will not be a party to this crime"; Prof. Dr. Turgut Tarhanlı, Dean of the Faculty of Law of İstanbul Bilgi University; Anadolu Kültür Executive Board Deputy Chair Yiğit Ekmekçi; executive board member Ali Hakan Altınay; General Coordinator of Anadolu Kültür Asena Günal; its former director general and Co-Director of Truth Justice Memory Center Meltem Aslan; Bora Sarı, Ayşegül Güzel, Filiz Telek, Yiğit Aksakoğlu, Yusuf Cıvır, Hande Özhabeş and producer Çiğdem Mater.
In a statement released by the İstanbul Security Directorate, it was alleged that businessperson Osman Kavala, who has been behind bars for over a year without an indictment, was responsible for organizing and financing the Gezi Park protests in 2013, adding that a warrant of detention had been issued against 20 people in İstanbul, Adana, Antalya and Muğla for having acted in an hierarchical order with Kavala.
CLICK - Statement by Security Directorate About Detention of Academics and Civil Society
Of the detained as part of the operation, Hande Özhabeş, Prof. Dr. Turgut Tarhanlı, Asena Günal, Bora Sarı and Meltem Aslan were released after giving their depositions on November 16 while Prof. Dr. Betül Tanbay, Yiğit Ekmekçi, Hakan Altınay, Yusuf Cıvır, Ayşegül Güzel and Çiğdem Mater were released on November 17.
CLICK - Prof. Tarhanlı, Asena Günal, Bora Sarı, Meltem Aslan Released
CLICK - Prof. Dr. Betül Tanbay Released
Yiğit Aksakoğlu, a civil society expert from İstanbul Bilgi University who was also taken into custody, was arrested on November 17. (EMK/SD)
* Photograph: Yasemin Bektaş
