24-hour ban on lawyer for journalist Zeynep Durgut

In the case of the journalist Zeynep Durgut, who was detained in the Cizre district of Şırnak this morning, the chief public prosecutor’s office in Şırnak has ordered a 24-hour ban on her seeing a lawyer. The correspondent of the Mezopotamya news agency is thus denied access to legal counsel for one day. In addition, the investigation file was placed under secrecy. The reason given for the court order is that “personal contact between the suspect and legal persons, as well as the authorisation to examine the contents of the file or make copies of the documents could jeopardise the purpose of the investigation.”

Nationwide police terror in the run-up to 15 February

Zeynep Durgut was arrested at her home in Cizre on Monday morning and taken to the police headquarters in Şırnak. Almost simultaneously, arrests were also made in other cities, including Silopi, Siirt, Eruh, Batman, Ağrı, Van, Adana, Mersin, Izmir and Manisa. So far, around fifty detentions have been confirmed, in addition to about the same number of people who have already been taken into custody in the past few days. The background to the police terror is a preventive repressive strike in the run-up to the anniversary of Abdullah Öcalan’s abduction from Kenya to Turkey, which will mark its 23rd anniversary tomorrow. Those involved are accused of preparing “forbidden actions”.

Search at Tuay-Der

In Siirt, there was also a search at the premises of the Solidarity Association for Prisoners, Tuay-Der. In addition to board members, activists from the Peace Mothers Initiative and the former co-chair of the HDP Provincial Association were also taken into custody. The number of detentions is expected to increase nationwide. In some cities, dozens of people are on the public prosecutors’ wanted lists.