* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)
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Several lawyers have been taken into custody in Turkey's southeastern provinces of Diyarbakır and Urfa as part of an Urfa-based investigation. The houses and offices of the lawyers were raided by security forces in Diyarbakır and Urfa in early morning hours today (March 12).
While two journalists have been detained in the raids conducted to the addresses of four lawyers in Diyarbakır, two lawyers could not be found at their addresses. Some documents found during the searches at the offices of two attorneys in Diyarbakır have been reportedly seized.
In raids conducted in Urfa, the following people have been taken into custody: Lawyers Cemo Tüysüz, Sevda Çelik Özbingöl, Hidayet Enmek, Emin Baran, Hüseyin İzol, Şeyhmus İnal, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Party Assembly member lawyer Metin Özbadem, former HDP executive Sedat Çelik and Salih Erbekler, a former worker of Radyo Karacadağ, a radio station which was closed by a Statutory Decree.
The lawyers have been reportedly taken into custody on charge of "aiding the terrorist organization" on the ground that they allegedly facilitated contact among the inmates in prisons.
Aydın: They cannot subdue defense
Speaking to bianet about the detentions, Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair lawyer Cihan Aydın has briefly stated the following:
"The occupational group facing the greatest risk in Turkey now is lawyers. The reason for that is the gradually increasing violations of rights and lawyers' attitudes and objections to this. The more lawyers and bar associations raise their objections against unlawful practices, the more they are targeted. They are trying to subdue the defense with detentions and arrests, but all these attempts are in vain." (RT/SD)
