The wave of arrests targeting pro-Kurdish circles which started before the 14 May general elections continues as the country approaches the second round of the presidential elections.
On Wednesday morning, dozens of individual including members of the pro-Kurdish Green Left Party were detained in house raids conducted in several cities across the country.
Turkish police carried out morning raids in Batman (Êlih), Mardin (Mêrdîn), Gaziantep (Dîlok), and Şırnak (Şırnex), which are predominantly Kurdish-populated cities in the southeastern region. At least 22 people were taken into custody, including several Green Left Party members. Reports suggest that doors were broken down during the raids, and several individuals were subjected to physical violence.
The raids unfolded as a continuation of an investigation based in Diyarbakır (Amed) that resulted in hundreds of lawyers, journalists and human rights advocates being arrested in 21 cities on 25 April.
In a separate operation, 12 musicians were arrested in the western city of Izmir on charges of “making terrorist propaganda.”
The musicians, who were detained during police raids on their residences in the early hours of the morning, had attended the opening of the Green Left Party’s election offices before the 14 May elections. In addition, Green Left Party members and officials were also detained in Manisa.
Meanwhile, in Mardin, 17 people detained on Tuesday as part of a different investigation are currently undergoing interrogation.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been in power for more than two decades, failed in the 14 May parliamentary and presidential elections to receive the majority of votes needed to secure another term, and is therefore facing a run-off election on 24 May.
His main rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu won the highest percentage of the vote in Kurdish-majority provinces because the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), under the list of the Green Left Party, had chosen not to field its own presidential candidate and instead announcing support for Kılıçdaroğlu.
The arrests of individuals affiliated with the pro-Kurdish movement have sparked concerns over the shrinking space for dissent and freedom of expression in Turkey. Critics argue that these operations are aimed at suppressing political opposition and limiting the representation of the Kurdish community in the country’s political landscape.
