30 People Arrested in Izmir

30 people were arrested in Izmir under allegations of "membership of a terrorist organization" on the order of a court on duty at 0.30 am in the night from Sunday to Monday (26 September). They were part of a group of 34 people in total who had been taken into police custody by the Anti-Terror Branch Directorate of the Izmir Police Directorate in the context of an operation against the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK), the umbrella organization that includes the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Upon the arrested people are Bayraklı Distric Chair of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Zeynel Hasdemir, BDP Party Assembly member Ahmet Demiroğlu, Izmir Provincial Executive Emine Aslan, Bornova District executives Hayrettin Aras and Hamit Sarık, Gaziemir District Executive İbrahim Çağdan, Çığlı District Executive Cemil Akçay, BDP Bayraklı District employee Mehmet Turan, Karabağlar District executives Hasan Daş and Celal Ecevit, Doğanlar District Executive Fehmi Çiftçi, Aliağa District Executive Mustafa Karahan, Ayşe Şımay, Tulin Yılmaz, Gani Poyraz and BDP Central Steering Board member Nizamettin Öztürk, the latter who had been taken into police custody in Istanbul.

As reported by Radikal newspaper, various documents regarding people who were apparently trained by the KCK were seized from offices and homes of the suspects as well as a scheme of the KCK Aegean Region administrative structure.

According to the Fırat News Agency (ANF), including the latest arrests the number of detained BDP members increased to 75. (EKN/VK)