Turkey intensified its crackdown over ongoing anti-government protests yesterday, arresting the lawyer of the jailed Istanbul mayor and two more journalists in connection with the country’s biggest wave of unrest since 2013.
Nine days after the arrest and subsequent jailing of popular Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, thousands of demonstrators protested on the streets on Thursday night, despite a growing sense of fear.
Overnight, police raided more homes, with Imamoglu writing on X via his legal team that his lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan had been “detained on fictitious grounds.”
Photo: AP
“As if the coup against democracy was not enough, they cannot tolerate the victims defending themselves. The evil that a handful of incompetent people are inflicting on our country is growing,” he wrote. “Release my lawyer immediately!”
It was not immediately clear on what grounds Pehlivan had been detained, but opposition broadcaster Halk TV said it was linked to allegations of “laundering assets originating from a crime.”
The Istanbul Bar Association said 20 minors had been arrested between Saturday last week and Tuesday on charges of contravening a ban on protests.
Of that number, 13 had been released, but seven were still in custody, it said in a statement on X, adding that it was “closely following” the matter.
Turkey’s repressive response to its worst bout of street unrest since 2013 has been sharply condemned by rights groups and drawn criticism from abroad.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised concerns over Ankara’s handling of the protests, and French President Emmanuel Macron denounced its “systematic attacks” on opposition figures and freedom of assembly.
Police also detained two Turkish women journalists in dawn raids on their homes, the Turkish Journalists’ Union wrote on X.
The Turkish authorities had on Wednesday detained BBC journalist Mark Lowen who had been covering the protests, holding him for 17 hours before deporting him on grounds he posed “a threat to public order,” the broadcaster said.
The move came just hours after the authorities released the last of 11 journalists arrested in dawn raids on Monday for covering the protests.
So far, more than 1,879 people have been detained since March 19, Turkish Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya said on Thursday.
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