30 Detentions in KCK; 7 Arrests in Van
30 people are taken into custody in six provinces within the scope of "Union of Communities in Kurdistan" (KCK) operations. Anti-Terror teams raided houses and the Peace and Democracy Party's (BDP) Politics Academies and the Association for Research and Development of the Kurdish Language (KURDİ-DER) branch offices in Urfa, İstanbul, Muş, Ankara, Diyarbakır and Eskişehir.
Fatma İzol and Mehmet Vural, local authorities of BDP Sanliurfa branch and BDP offiicials from Viransehir and Ceylanpinar are among the people taken into custody.
7 women arrested in Van
13 women working in Van Municipality were taken into custody within the scope of KCK on May 4th and 7 of them got arrested.
There are mayor consultant and councilors in the arrested group; the list is as follows: Pervin Özgür, Suna Atalay, Aynur Bağış, Aynur Tarhan, Leyla Aydın, Arzu Moco, Rojbin Çetin.
Women's organizations like Association of Women Artists, Van Women's Association (VAKAD), Mavigöl Women's Association, Women's Cooperative (YAKA- KOOP) protested the detentions.
The organizations drew attention to the importance of involvement of women in politics and made a statement as follows:
"It's harder for women to involve in politics as this field is mostly dominated by men. The achievements of the women struggle are also blocked by the arrests of women interested in politics. Actively dealing with politics should not be a crime for women. On the contrary, there's a need to encourage women's participation in politics in Turkey." (NV)