ISTANBUL - Reacting to the detention of young people and the searching of their families following the “Take a step for peace” march, the DEM Party Istanbul Youth Council stated: “Young people and their families will never bow down to your impositions, threats and policies of turning people into informants.”

 

After the demonstration “Take a Step for Peace” held last Saturday in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district, the Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party Youth Council denounced repression against participants. Speaking in front of the party office in Istanbul on Monday, the organization stated that numerous activists had been summoned by police after the rally.

 

Alongside members of the Youth Council, party representatives also attended the demonstration. According to Saime Sema Çali from the Youth Council, around 30 young people were asked to give statements following the demonstration. Çali also stated that family members had been contacted by phone and, in some cases, pressured or threatened. “Young people and their families will not bow to intimidation, threats, and recruitment attempts,” she said.

 

Saime Sema Çali stated that similar measures had recently been observed in other cities as well. She referred to the case of student Ilayda Zorlu, who was allegedly pressured by her family because of her participation in an event for March 8 and died under suspicious circumstances in mid-April after being fatally shot with the service weapon of her father, a police officer.

 

She stated that the summonses were linked, among other things, to posters of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan displayed during the demonstration. The organization criticized what it described as a contradiction between public discussions about Öcalan’s possible role in the ongoing political process and the simultaneous criminal prosecution of related symbols.

 

“On the one hand, there is talk about Öcalan’s role as a negotiating partner, while on the other hand, his images are being criminalized,” she stated.