KCK Operation: 137 People in Custody

An operation targeting the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK) was carried out in several districts of Istanbul on Tuesday (4 October). 92 people were taken into police custody on the grounds of their alleged membership in the KCK, the umbrella organization that includes the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

As reported by the Fırat News Agency (ANF), the operation that started simultaneously at around 6.30 am on Tuesday morning was conducted in the Istanbul districts of Bağcılar, Esenyurt, Arnavutköy, Üsküdar, Beyoğlu, Şişli, Gaziosmanpaşa, Bayrampaşa and Sultangazi.

Among the people taken into custody in Istanbul are members of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Party Assembly Hülya Yer and Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar; BDP Istanbul Provincial Executives Dursun Yıldız, Aydemir Anlı, Mehmet Kaymaz and Nural Doğan; BDP Bahçelievler District Chair Faruk Tur; Gaziosmanpaşa District Chair Arif Yılmaz, Arnavutköy District Chair Galip Ateş, Sancaktepe District Chair Çiçek Arınç; Üsküdar District Vice Chair Mehmet Şerif Mergen; Democratic Society Congress (DTK) member Hikmet Kaymaz and Kemal Aydın, Executive of the Association for Solidarity and Support of Relatives of Disappeared People (YAKAY-DER).

"Deniz is an academician who gives lessons in political sciences"

One of the persons taken into police custody in Istanbul is Deniz Ragıpoğlu, son of publisher Ragıp Zarakolu, Head of the Freedom of Publishing Committee of the Turkish Publishers Association. Deniz Ragıpoğlu is currently doing a PhD in Political Sciences at Bilgi University.

Zarakolu was taken into custody after a police raid on his home in Tarlabaşı (European side of Istanbul) on Tuesday morning. He made a name for himself with his research and translations in the field of political sciences.

Publisher Ragıp Zarakolu spoke to bianet about the incident. In his opinion, his son was taken into custody because he taught "Political Sciences" and "History of Political Thought" at the political academy of the BDP.

Operations in five other provinces

31 people were taken into custody in the course of simultaneous operations in Diyarbakır, among them BDP Vice Co-Chairman Erkan Pişkin, BDP Diyarbakır Provincial Vice-Chair Mehmet Aksünger, BDP Women Assembly member Fatma Kaşan, Dr. İlhan Diken and journalist Tayyip Temel, former General Publications Director and now writer of the Kurdish Azadiya Welat newspaper.

The reason for Temel's custody has not been reported yet. He was taken to the Diyarbakır Police Directorate. The Azadiya Welat newspaper told bianet that they had not obtained any detailed information about Temel yet.

In Gaziantep 20 people were taken into custody; furthermore BDP Assistant Treasurer Salih Yıldız and BDP employee Mahmut Polat in Ankara; Derik (Mardin) District Mayor Çağlar Demirel and DTK Co-ordination Board Member and DTK Batman Spokesman Osman Akdağ and Kurtalan District (Siirt) Municipality Council Member Mehmet Koyuncu.

According to the Dicle News Agency (DİHA), 771 people have been taken into police custody in the course of KCK operations throughout the past month. With yesterday's numbers, this figure amounts to 908 people, DİHA announced.

92 People in Custody in Istanbul

Joint attorney of the BDP Sinan Zincir assessed the operation in Istanbul in an interview with bianet.

Zincir summarized that the 92 people taken into police custody on Tuesday include 14 district mayors, twelve provincial executives, seven members of the Party Assembly, almost all previous provincial executives and former Provincial Co-Chair Çiğdem Uçarkılıçgün. The persons in custody are not allowed to talk to their lawyers for the first 24 hours in custody and a decision of confidentiality of the file has been decided for four days.

Zincir said that these operations were intended to "openly and clearly prevent the democratic efforts of the BDP and to break the democratic will of the Kurds".

Zincir reminded that there were only two weeks left until the provincial party congress. In the lawyer's opinion, the actual targets of these operations were the counteracting of BDP actions and the party's entering the parliament. EKN/ÇT/IC)