Appeal against Arrests Dismissed

The appeal against the arrest of 13 members of the Socialist Democracy Party (SDP) and the Social Freedom Platform (TÖP) was dismissed by the court. The members of the legal political organizations were arrested on 25 September because of an alleged affiliation with the "Revolutionary Headquarters" terrorist organization.

Lawyer Gülizar Tuncer talked to bianet and announced that the appeal filed last Thursday (30 September) has been rejected on Wednesday (6 October).

Among the people arrested are SDP Chair Rıdvan Turan, TÖP spokesmen Oğuzhan Kayserilioğlu and Tuncay Yılmaz, SDP Deputy Chairs Günay Kubilay and Ecevit Piroğlu, Steering Board Member Ulaş Bayraktaroğlu, SDP members Özgür Cafer Kalafat and İbrahim Turgut and TÖP member Semih Aydın.

SDP issued statement on Avcı, Sayın and Kılıç

The SDP issued a statement on Wednesday and declared that neither party members nor members of TÖP had any connections to the "Revolutionary Headquarters" organization.

It was said that Mahir Sayın, current SDP Central Steering Board advisor, legally went abroad one week prior to the operation in which he should have been included as well. The SDP criticized allegations that Sayın supposedly "escaped" or that he was assumed to be a "member of the Revolutionary Headquarters organizations who followed the suggestion of Hanefi Avcı to flee abroad".

"Hanife Avcı will be brought to court just like all the other torturers; he has to give account to the judiciary on the crimes he committed. This is the SDP's view on Avcı now and also before this complot against our party started"

The statement also mentioned Necdet Kılıç as a person who was involved in Avcı's torture interrogation at the time around the military coup on 12 September 1980. Apparently, he expressed his remorse later on. The statement emphasized that Kılıç was not a member of the SDP and that his contacts were not to be linked with the party.

Kılıç, supposedly a close friend of Avcı, is among the people arrested.

The statement described the investigation into the "Revolutionary Headquarters" and the prosecution as a "scandal of law and democracy".

Avcı's lawyer filed appeal as well

Avcı was arrested three days after the operation against SDP and TÖP under allegations of "aiding an illegal organization". The former Eskişehir Chief of Police had declared "not to object to his arrest".

His lawyer Bahtiyar Kurt filed an appeal on Tuesday (5 September) at the 14^th High Criminal Court's judge on duty.

Lawyer Kurt said, "He [Avcı] is informed about the procedures I started today. He expressed his personal point of view when he said, 'I will not appeal the decision, I do not want to be released'. He had stated that he was not going to appeal to his arrest himself. However, he did not give clear instructions to me whether I should file an appeal. He left that part to me as a lawyer".

Avcı had told journalists in a letter, "I am not arrested because of Necdet Kılıç, he is arrested because of me". (EÖ/VK)