Arrests after Bostancı Operation

On 27 April, a police operation in Bostancı, Istanbul, was carried out, during which a police officer, a bystander and militant Orhan Yılmazkaya, member of the Revolutionary Headquarters Organisation, were killed.

Following the operation, thirteen people were arrested, among them journalists Aylin Duruoğlu and Mehmet Yeşiltepe, dancer and musician Ceren Sütlaş and cinematist Meral Seven. They have been in prison for 44 days.

Arrested for knowing Yılmazkaya

Duruoğlu and Yeşiltepe have said that they were at university with Yılmazkaya and knew him, just like other media representatives, not as a member of an illegal organisation, but as a writer and journalist.

The Istanbul 11th Heavy Penal Court considered the demand for release last week, but decided to continue the detentions of the 13 individuals.

In addition, captain Nejdet Öztürk, who had rented the flat in Bostancı at which Yılmazkaya was caught, had sent notice that he was abroad on a ship but coming to make a statement. When he arrived in Turkey last week, he was arrested and taken to Tekirdağ Prison.

Öztürk said that his former wife had been at university with Yılmazkaya. Öztürk had rented the flat where he wanted to live after remarrying. His own eleven-year-old child and two cousins of the child also live  in the same apartment block.

Yılmazkaya had had financial problems, and Öztürk had decided to let him stay at the flat for a while 15 days before the operation took place.

His lawyer Meral Karalı has sent a letter of refutation to the Zaman newspaper, which had claimed that her client had been "caught at Atatürk airport with a fake passport."

The number of detained people is thus now 14. One person has been released pending trial because of health reasons.

Long detentions, secret files

Journalist Duruoğlu, the editor of daily Vatan newspaper's website gazetevatan.com, has been kept in Bakırköy Women's Prison for the last 44 days.

Her lawyer Naime Kılıç has told bianet that her client is waiting for progress. She is being visited by her family and others and has received a lot of letters of support.

Tunç Demircan, lawyer for Sütlaş, has said, "Now that a month has passed, the sense of despair and injustice is increasing. Because I still have not been allowed to see the file on my client, I do not know why she is being held."

The lawyer added that his client's computer, phones and books, which had been taken during a police search, had been given back. He expressed the expectation that his client would be released because she was not involved.

Demircan has objected to the confidentiality of hte file, but this was rejected last week. Other lawyers have also protested against their clients being held in prison without clarification. (EÖ/AG)