Turkey detains 12 opposition members of the People’s Party

Authorities in Turkey have arrested 12 people affiliated with the Peoples’ Democratic Party in Turkey.

Turkey has been accused of human rights abuses, persecution and arrests of the opposition, and is seeking to disband the Peoples’ Democratic Party for its alleged links to the Workers’ Party, which it considers a terrorist organization.

Thousands of people have been imprisoned since the 2016 coup attempt.

The arrest comes within the scope of the investigation launched into the regional conference of the Peoples’ Democratic Party in Istanbul on December 12.

The Istanbul prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the matter, saying that a slogan praising the leader of the terrorist organization had been chanted and that organizational songs were sung at the conference, Turkish newspaper Zaman reported.

The arrests were made Friday morning as part of an investigation by the Istanbul Prosecutor General’s Office. Among those arrested were executive officials from the Peoples’ Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, opposition Turkish Peoples’ Democratic Party parliamentarian Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu said: “The ruling Justice and Development Party is the party of repression and evil”.

Gergerlioglu was commenting on the death of 4 prisoners in Turkish jails within one week. He said: “There is no justice minister, but he is in fact the minister of cruelty”.

Gergerlioglu’s statements outraged Justice and Development Party MPs, and Justice and Development Bloc vice president Mustafa Altentach called for Gergerlioglu’s expulsion from Parliament.