DİYARBAKIR - Two more people have been remanded in custody in the operation targeting MEBYA-DER, an association of solidarity for families who have lost relatives.

 

Police detained 14 people following police operations carried out in Diyarbakır on 27 February in the scope of an investigation launched by Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Among them, the director of MEBYA-DER, Meryem Soylu, 79 years old, and Hatun Aslan, 71 years old, were sent to prison by the court on Wednesday on the allegation of "membership in a terrorist organization". Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Bağlar district branch executive Fetullah Işık was released under judicial control.

 

The detention period was extended for another 4 days for the remaining 11 people on Wednesday.

 

Of the 11 detainees, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Diyarbakır provincial branch administrator Hatice Güneş, DBP Bağlar district branch executive Tahir Gül and MEYA-DER executive Muzaffer Ulaş were referred to court late Thursday evening. While Hatice Güneş and Muzaffer Ulaş were remanded in custody for alleged "membership in a terrorist organization", Tahir Gül was released on condition of judicial supervision.

 

As part of the same investigation, 16 more people, including MEBYA-DER members and executives, were detained in a second operation this Wednesday. The house of MEBYA-DER executive Beşir Doğan in the rural neighbourhood of Bağlar district of Doluçanak was raided by gendarmerie who came with 10 armoured vehicles in the morning. The gendarmes entered the house with dogs, searched it for two hours, insulted residents, and used the dogs as a mean of threat.

 

Nearly 20 people detained in the mentioned operations are still in custody, including MEBYA-DER Co-Chairs Şeyhmus Karadağ and Yüksel Almas.

 

MEBYA-DER described the repression against the association as legally groundless and demanded the release of those arrested. On Tuesday, the association issued a statement on the state repression against Kurdish civil society. Ali Kanik stated that the door of the association was broken down by the police on Saturday and almost the entire board was arrested. During the search of the association's premises, official documents, the association's statute and applications from relatives were confiscated, he said. "The founding purpose of our association is in the statute and has been approved by the Ministry of Interior and the Governor's Office. Our association is a civil society organization that opposes injustice and war and advocates peace, democracy and equality."