Police detained 96 people in morning raids across 22 provinces today, targeting political parties, unions, and media outlets.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that the operations were part of an investigation into the outlawed Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP).
Doors broken
The raids targeted the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF), the Socialist Women's Councils (SKM), and the Limter-İş Union. Police also raided the Etkin News Agency (ETHA), the Science, Education, Aesthetic, Culture and Art Research Foundation (BEKSAV), and the Law Bureau of the Oppressed (EHB).
Among those detained are former MP and ESP Co-Chair Murat Çepni and ETHA journalists Nadiye Gürbüz, Pınar Gayıp, Elif Bayburt, Müslüm Koyun, and Züleyha Müldür, as well as environmentalists and unionists.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office stated it issued detention warrants for 110 individuals. It alleged that the targeted organizations are part of the MLKP structure.
The investigation is based on witness statements, digital materials from previous operations, reports from the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), and data from online meetings held on Google Meet.
Police reportedly broke the doors of the offices of the organizations during the raids and confiscated technical equipment. A 24-hour restriction was placed on the detainees' access to lawyers.
'It's because we defended Rojava'
Çiçek Otlu, an MP from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party and the spokesperson of the Socialist Women Assemblies (SKM), linked the timing of the raids to recent developments in northern Syria. "It's because we defended the Rojava revolution," she said.
"During the detentions, doors of many of our institutions, including the headquarters, ETHA, BEKSAV, SGDF, and Kaktüs, were broken to enter. Subsequently, computers in all our locations were confiscated," Otlu said.
She added that "We want equality and freedom in this country. We want the rights of labor and the women's freedom struggle to be recognized."
The MP cited earlier earlier remarks by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who told Al Jazeera on Jan 30 that around 300 members of Turkey-based left-wing groups were operating in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
"Their only task is to seek opportunities to attack Turkish soldiers and security forces," Fidan had said. (TY/VK)
