Twelve persons out of a group of 17 people were arrested after they had been taken into custody last week in the scope of operations against the Union of Kurdistan Communities/Turkey Assembly (KCK). The operations were carried out in several provinces simultaneously on 29 April.

Nejat Ağırnaslı, graduate student at the Sociology Department of the renowned Bosporus University in Istanbul, and another 16 people were taken to the Police Directorate of Diyarbakır in the Kurdish-majority south-east of the country.

Decision of confidentiality

Diyarbakır Bar Association President Mehmet Emin Aktar said in an interview with bianet that twelve of the 17 people in custody were arrested by the court in the meantime. They are charged with alleged membership in a terrorist organization.

"Also graduate student Nejat Ağırnaslı from the Bosporus University was taken into custody in the context of the operation. I was his legal advisor", Aktar explained and added that Ağırnaslı was released later on. Yet, there are several university students from different provinces among the group of arrested people according to the lawyer.

"All twelve arrested persons sought the right to a defence in their mother language at the police and also at court. However, a defence in the Kurdish language was not allowed. The investigation is classified. Therefore we do not know a considerable part of the documents regarding the trial", Aktar indicated. (EKN/VK)