23 people were taken into custody in the course of police operations carried out on Wednesday morning (25 May). The operations were done simultaneously at different places of Adana, a city on the south-eastern tip of the Mediterranean.
The 23 individuals were taken into police custody because they supposedly attended commemoration events held in Adana for Turkish leftist revolutionaries. On 18 May, it was the 38th anniversary of the death of İbrahim Kaypakkaya, founder of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist Leninist (TKP/ML). Kaypakkaya died in 1973 in the Diyarbakır Prison after he had been tortured. The people taken into custody are also alleged of having attended an event on 6 May marking the 39th anniversary of the execution of Marxist-Leninist revolutionary Deniz Gezmiş and his companions Hüseyin İnan and Yusuf Arslan in 1972.
Various non-governmental organizations and democratic mass organizations protested the operations in a press release issued in Adana the same day.
"23 in custody, more to follow"
bianet spoke to lawyer Tugay Dek, the legal advisor of the people in custody. Dek noted that they had not been able to see the case file yet even though there was not decision of classification.
The lawyer said that the individuals were being interrogated at the Anti-Terror Branch (TEM) by the mere reason that they attended commemoration ceremonies. Up to now, members of the Community Centres, the Social Freedom Platform (TÖP), the Labour Party (EMEP), the Republican People's Party (CHP), the Çukurova Public Culture Centre (ÇHKM), the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) and the Students' Collective are being held in custody. However, the lawyer expects that the police are still searching for other individuals.
"There are charges of 'spreading propaganda for an illegal organization' and 'praising the leaders of an illegal organization' related to the commemoration ceremonies. But we have not been able to see the file yet", Dek indicated.
"Attitude of Adana Police brings participants to prison"
"This sort of event is being organized in several cities every year. Only in Adana there seems to be a different application and legal action is being taken against the participants" the lawyer continued.
Dek recalled, "An investigation was launched about people who commemorated Mahir Çayan [member of the Turkey's People's Liberation Party-Front (THKP-C)] last year. The Adana 6th High Criminal Court sentenced 15 individuals to imprisonment of ten months each. Another trial regarding the remembrance of Deniz Gezmiş is pending before the Adana 14th High Criminal Court".
"While these events are being held in many places all over the country, participants in Adana find themselves before Special Authority High Criminal Courts because of the attitude of the Adana Police".
"I do not know the criteria for police custody"
Dek underlined that hundreds of people attended the event and that he was not aware of the criteria for taking certain participants into custody.
"I attended a commemoration event for Deniz Gezmiş as well, so they have to take me into custody too if that is a crime. (...) In my opinion, people are being taken into police custody to be daunted", Dek said. (EKN/VK)
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