44 People Arrested - among them Ersanlı and Zarakolu

44 out of a total of 50 people who were taken into police custody in the scope of operations against the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK) on 28/29 October were arrested on 1 November, among them academic Büşra Ersanlı and publisher Ragıp Zarakolu.

The entire group of 50 people was interrogated at the Istanbul Police Directorate and subsequently taken to the Istanbul Courthouse on 31 October for a further investigation.

In the evening of the same day they were brought to the Istanbul 14^th and 15^th High Criminal Courts.

The 15^th High Criminal Court arrested 21 out of 23 people.

List of arrested persons

The people arrested on 1 November are Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Party Assembly member Prof Büşra Ersanlı, BDP Central Steering Board (MYK) member Mustafa Avcı, publisher Ragıp Zarakolu, BDP Political Academy lecturer Kemal Seven, Songül Karatagna from the Özgür Gündem newspaper, BDP Yalova Provincial Deputy Chair Evrim Öztürk, Erdoğan Baysal, İhsan Çelik, Ali Edebali, Hüsnü Taş, Medeni Demirkapı, Mustafa İpek, Muhsin Yeşilas, Zeki Elmas, Kemal Bilken, Burhanettin Toprak, Zekiye Ayık, Beril Botan Kahraman, Recep Karagül, Nizamettin Güneş, Nizamettin Açıkça, Cüneyt Özil, İrfan Zilaki, Suna Varsak, Kemalettin Gürfeyil, Sevim Er, Senar Şahin, Uğur Taşdemir, Ayşe Günay, Büşra Beste Önder, Derya Aslan, Derya Güregen, Erdal Özmaskan, Mustafa Polat, Mehmet Mesut Tanrıkulu, Hasan Özgüneş, Mülazim Özcan, Abdullah Tayboğa, Ahmet Yılmaz, Evrim Öztürk, Cevdet İnce, Yasin Yakın, Birgül Arbaş, Ömer Gölge and Nizamettin Özmen.

Worldwide signature campaign against "arbirtrary detentions"

The increasing number of detentions in Turkey is being criticized in the country and abroad.

More than 4,500 people signed the online signature campaign "Stop Arbitrary Detentions in Turkey!" so far as of 6.00 pm on 1 November.

The campaign was launched on the ipetitions.com web site on 31 October to protest arrests and detentions that occurred within the frame of the KCK operations from 2009 till today. During this time, 7748 people were taken into custody and 3895 people were "arrested and imprisoned without even the prospect of a trial in the foreseeable future", the campaign reads.

The petition mentions Prof Ersanlı and publisher Zarakolu as well as interpreter and researcher Ayşe Berktay who was arrested in the context of the operation in October. These three persons "are among thousands of people who have been imprisoned and silenced in the last two years", the petition emphasizes.

Internationally renowned academics and intellectuals have already signed the petition. These are for example Richard Falk, Professor for international law and human rights at Princeton; anthropology Prof Lila Abu-Lughod; Dr. Amy Bartholome from the Carleton University in Canada; American philosopher Judith Butler; English writer Musa Moris Farhi who was born in Turkey; Prof Hamid Dabashi from Columbia University; American journalist and writer Prof Maureen Freely; Prof Akira Maeda from the Kyoto Ritsumeikan University; German historian Christoph K. Neumann or Indian writer Arundhati Roy. (EKN/HK)

* Click here to read the petition