Police raid Kurdish wedding in İstanbul
İstanbul police on Aug 10 raided a wedding in the Esenyurt district, leading to the detention of eight individuals, including the wedding hosts and musicians.
The raid was reportedly triggered by the playing of "political songs" during the event, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported.
Five detainees were released after giving their statements, while three remained in custody to be referred to a court. The detainees are accused of “making terrorist propaganda.”
Bu görüntüler, Kürt'e, Kürtçe'ye ve Kürt düğünlerine tahammülsüzlüğün görüntüleri. Esenyurt'ta kendi sokaklarında düğün yapan Karçık ailesinin düğününü onlarca resmi ve sivil araçlarla basan yüzlerce polis, düğün sahibi 5 kişiyi gözaltına aldı.
— DEM Parti İstanbul (@dempartistanbul) August 10, 2024
Yaşanan bu saldırının takipçisi… pic.twitter.com/sZp7HQDX3V
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party criticized the police action as a sign of intolerance towards Kurdish identity and culture, highlighting the recent occurrence of similar raids across the country.
"These images reflect intolerance towards Kurds, the Kurdish language, and Kurdish weddings. Hundreds of police officers in dozens of official and civilian vehicles raided the wedding of the Karçık family in Esenyurt and detained five people. We will continue to follow this attack closely,” said the party’s İstanbul branch in a statement on social media.
Recent months have seen an increase in police raids on Kurdish weddings across Turkey, justified by allegations of "terror propaganda." Authorities claim that the songs played or slogans chanted at these events contain content related to “terrorism.”
Turkey’s crackdown on Kurdish political movement expands to ‘terrorist weddings’
(AD/VK)