“Rebellion” Raids in Istanbul

Early this morning, Turkish anti-terror police and security forces raided dozens of apartments in Istanbul - a police operation mainly targeting Sarıgazi and Sancaktepe districts. 

Held under the order of Istanbul 2nd Judge Panel, this morning’s police raids mostly aimed university student apartments. 

It was said that raids took place as early as 5 am local time. 

55 individuals were ordered to be detained for the following charges: “Provoking public to rebellion, assaulting law enforcement officials and vehicles, harming public and citizens”. 

Detainees have reportedly been barred from meeting their attorney for 24 hours, as the court issued a confidentiality decree on the case. 

Police is reportedly searching the apartment of Ilknur Birol - former chairperson of Halkevleri Organization. However, the police dearch order was issued under Bircan Birol - Ilknur Birol’s daughter. 

In an interview to bianet, advocate Ümit Erdem underlined a series of practices he claimed to be unlawful:

"We heard that police searched neighboring apartments saying that the numbers were not marked well. They searched all the rooms in neighboring apartments. 

“They also searched computers in an unlawful fashion. They didn’t take images and we didn’t received any copies. They just took all computers with them.” 

“Police also confiscated all political magazines including Birikim, as well as film spools from Istanbul’s Workers Movie Festival. 

“We will object to un-procedural searchings and extension of searches to neighboring apartments.” 

Some of detainees were adhered to these following organizations: Öğrenci Kolektifleri (Student Collectives), Liseli Genç Umut (High School Young Hope), People’s Salvation Party (HKP), Youth Union of Turkey (TGB), Anatolian Culture and Research Association (AKA-DER)

The court issued arrest warrants against 55 individuals: 

Cengizhan Cora, Uğur Gümüşkaya, Ramazan Akgün, Burak Sayım, Engin Uğur, Gökay Işık, Cihan Uyanık, Çağla Ural, Ozan Erdoğan, Erdem Arslan, Denizcan Sarıkaya, Andaç Yıldırım, Ersin Keleş, İsmail Cem Bulur, Tahir Özgür Kütahya, Uğur Cucu, Ali Coşkun, Yiğit Ergün, Bircan Birol, Cem Erarslan, Naim Göktaş, Damla Arslan, Sezai Keskin, Şehmuz Altay, Barış Alpuğan, Zafer Alpuğan, İbrahim Okan Özkan, Savaş Çiçek, Nevzat Behzar, Münir Aktan, Deniz Bin, Devrim Yılmaz, Düzgün Polat, Erkan Kurç, Mustafa Ali Bülbül, Selçuk Kalaycıoğlu, Deniz Umur Şahin, Hüseyin Demirezen, İlhan Çoban, Meriç Yapışkan, Okay Koçak, Umut Öner, Ceren Çoban, Hasret Deniz Özçelik, Okan Çevik, Cihan Parıltı, Ahmet Paket, Hasan Mert Kaynar, Ömer Yıldız, Güneş Atalay, Bulut Baran Korku, Uğur Karakuş, Şahin Berber, Kadir Ev, Cahit Atalay. (AS/BM)