9 Human Rights Lawyers Arrested in Istanbul
An Istanbul court order this afternoon the arrest of 9 human rights lawyers who have been detained since Friday for charges related to being a DHKP-C member.
The detained lawyers appeared in Istanbul courthouse this morning for their interrogation. After their interrogation by the judge, 9 detainees were arrested while Efkan Bolaç has been released.
On Friday morning, police forces in İstanbul, Ankara, Antalya and Bursa provinces launched a simultaneous raids on apartments and offices, detaining 64 individuals including musicians and human rights lawyers.
The majority of arrested lawyers were registered members of Contemporary Lawyer Association, an NGO that was widely known to provide legal assistance for Turkey's most controversial human rights abuse cases. The arrested association members listed as Selçuk Kozağaçlı (chairperson), Taylan Tanay, Güçlü Sevimli and Betül Vangölü. The remaining arrested lawyers were disclosed as Barkın Timtik, Ebru Timtik, Şükriye Erden, Naciye Demir and Günay Dağ.
The police release the complete list of detainees (64) as follows:
Ahmet Denizer, Ali Aracı, Ali Ekber Kalender, Alişan Gül, Güçlü Sevimli, Ayhan Bayrak, Baki Can Işık, Barış Yüksel, Barkın Timtik, Beşir Özdemir, Betül Vangölü Kozağaçlı, Caner Bozkurt, Cansu Alataş, Cansu Güneş Şerefoğlu, Cavit Yılmaz, Cemil Onur Çelikdağ, Çağrı Avcı, Damla Sabdal, Doğan Karataştan, Doğan Yıldız, Dursun Göktaş, Duygu Yücel, Ebru Hatice Akbaba, Ebru Timtik, Efkan Bolaç, Elif Sultan Kalsen, Erdem Hanoğlu, Erhan Acar, Fatih Özgür Aydın, Gamze Keşkek, Gülvin Aydın, Günay Dağ, Güray Dağ, Güven Usta, Halit Güdenoğlu, Harran Aydın, Hasan Farsak, İbrahim Gökçek, İnan Altın, Kamil Sarıkaya, Kamile Kayır, Leyla Aracı, Mahmut Tuncer, Mahir Bektaş, Mehmet Emin Kaçmaz, Naciye Demir, Necla Can, Ömür Tekin, Özlem Kütük, Sami Menteş, Selma Altın, Sultan Kavdır, Şafak Yayla, Şükriye Erden, Tahsin Sağaltıcı, Taylan Tanay, Tuncer Gümüş, Uğur Enis Taşçı, Ulaş Doğan, Umut Karakaya, Utku Aykar, Ümit Çimen, Veysel Şahin, Yeliz Kılıç.
The Attorney General's Office said it had issued arrest warrants for two other association members, Özgür Yılmaz and Oya Aslan.
After hearing the arrest order, Contemporary Lawyer Assocation chairperson Selçuk Kozağaçlı protested. "We are going to show you how to be a proper lawyer. By this order, we are only getting more ambitious about following our cause,” he yelled in the court room. (AS)