Five university students were arrested in Eskisehir for having ties with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, but their lawyer said that no evidence exists and vowed to contest the charges.
Lawyer Sahap Arpaci said on Tuesday that he is challenging the charges against five university students in Turkey’s Eskisehir province who are accused of being members of a terrorist organisation based on statements given by a secret informant.
“There is a lack of evidence supporting the ‘membership of an armed organisation’ charge in the investigation file,” Arpaci told Bia.net.
The students, Ezgi Karagoz, Abdullah Arslan, Genco Aykut, Muhammed Topalan, and Rezan Aras, were arrested in Eskisehir on Tuesday following raids on houses last week in various cities, which resulted in at least 15 people being detained, Bia.net reported.
The five students were arrested based on testimony from a secret informant who claimed that the Free Student Initiative and the Democratic Student Council have ties with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK.
The five students who were arrested were members or the two organisations, which are pro-Kurdish youth groups formed by university students.
Their lawyer underlined that the decision of arrest them will have a negative impact on their studies at university.
The PKK has been fighting the Turkish authorities for decades, seeking greater Kurdish autonomy.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is accused of targeting Kurds, including politicians, journalists and activists, usinmg allegations that they are linked to the PKK.
Many Kurdish politicians, including the former co-chairs of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, HDP, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, are in prison due to their alleged ties with the PKK.
Source : Balkaninsight
