Thirty-five people who were detained on
Thursday in several provinces of Turkey in simultaneous raids against
the Kurdish Communities Union/Turkey Council (KCK/TM) were transferred
to the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor's Office for questioning yesterday.
The KCK/TM allegedly functions as the urban
arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Several suspected
KCK/TM members were detained in Ankara, İstanbul, İzmir, Diyarbakır,
Siirt, Hakkari, Tunceli, Batman, Şanlırfa, Şırnak and Van. Among them
were mayors of several predominantly Kurdish cities. The 35 suspects
were examined at a state hospital in Diyarbakır and were later
transferred to the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor's Office.
They
were interrogated by six prosecutors. Around 50 lawyers were also
present during the interrogation. The suspects were questioned about
their positions within the KCK/TM. Prosecutors’ questions included: Do
you force people to subscribe to the organization’s publications? Do
you use municipality funds to aid the terrorist organization? Did you
organize the illegal demonstrations during Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan’s visit to Diyarbakır? Did you ever attend KCK/TM operations?
Thursday’s operation was the fifth against the group.
An
indictment prepared in May about the structure of the KCK/TM indicated
that the KCK/TM has a “constitution” that talks about plans regarding a
“democratic republic” and “free municipalities. The indictment also
indicated that the KCK/TM takes orders from one of the senior leaders
of the PKK, Murat Karayılan, who allegedly said, “Try to have the
Kurdish people pour out onto the streets and demand their rights.”
Sources
also said the KCK/TM was restructured following an operation against
the group on April 14 and that they started to act upon jailed PKK
leader Abdullah Öcalan’s statement that his prison cell was too
restrictive. Then street demonstrations followed in which four people
died. During the street demonstrations, security forces monitored the
phone conversations of KCK/TM members, resulting in yesterday’s
operations. In the meantime, a Diyarbakır court issued an arrest
warrant for Yüksel Baran, the mayor of Diyarbakır’s Bağlar district.
BDP denounces operation in İstanbul
The
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), which former deputies of the
now-defunct Democratic Society Party (DTP) joined earlier this week,
denounced Thursday’s operation against suspected KCK/TM members in a
press conference in İstanbul on Friday. A group of BDP members convened
in front of the party’s building in Beyoğlu and stated that more than
80 people were detained on Thursday on suspicion of membership in the
KCK/TM. The group also slammed government efforts for a democratization
initiative to settle the years-long Kurdish question. The group claimed
that the efforts were a plan by the United States.
“Stability
in the region [Middle East] can be restored only through consensus
among northern Iraq, Turkey and the US. The US believes that such a
consensus is possible only through cooperation between Turkey and
northern Iraq for the elimination of the PKK. This is what the real
initiative is,” the group claimed.
Meanwhile, around 3,000 people gathered in front of the Diyarbakır Municipality building to protest the detentions.
Today's Zaman
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