A prosecutor in Turkey’s eastern Van (Wan) province dismissed charges of terrorism against three Kurdish men who had been targeted by the country’s former interior minister, Süleyman Soylu.
The men were arrested in December 2022, alongside another man. The fourth arrestee, C.H., was sent to prison to face trial for membership in a terrorist organisation while V.K., K.K. and F.K. were released.
The three were accused of acting as part of the Civilian Defence Units (YPS), which calls itself a “self-defence force” in Kurdish majority provinces, and their homes were searched for evidence that they were preparing for an urban action.
The prosecutor’s investigation found no evidence of criminal activity. There were no weapons or explosives in their residences or persons, and they had not posted any information or photographs pertaining to the YPS on their social media, according to the prosecutor.
“In consideration as part of the whole case file, it is understood that no concrete evidence has been obtained that the suspects were preparing for an action in our province, no evidence of criminal activity was recovered in searches in their residences, no concrete evidence was found that they were members of a terrorist organisation, and as such, at this point in time not enough suspicion or evidence is present to start a public case against the suspects,” the prosecutor’s explanation said.
Then-Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu had said weapons and ammunition had been recovered from the arrestees’ places of residence, and that the suspects had come from the neighbouring Muş (Mûs) province to carry out a terrorist attack in Van.
On Wednesday, another Kurd targeted by Soylu, Green Left Party parliamentary candidate Ayten Dönmez, was released from prison due to lack of evidence for her membership in a terrorist organisation. The former minister had accused Dönmez of being a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) guerrilla units, and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) of fielding terrorists as parliamentary candidates ahead of the May elections.
