A Purge in Istanbul
There's been another wave of arrests here, this time of figures allegedly connected to the KCK, the PKK's urban wing.
Ragıp Zarakolu has been arrested many times since the 70s. People sometimes say to me, "Yes, there are still some things you can't talk about here, but it's so much better than it used to be ... you couldn't talk about the Kurds at all then, now we can even make movies about them ... " Well, with Ragıp arrested, I guess you can't talk about them anymore.
Marmara University academic Büşra Ersanlı was arrested, too. So was Kemal Seven. You can read an account of this by his son-in-law:
Her brother, my father-in-law’s little brother, is nowhere to be found. He’s supposed to join us, but is mostly likely drinking somewhere. He has been profoundly shaken by his brother’s arrest. We can’t tell grandfather because of his heart condition—God only knows how it will effect him. And yet it’s inevitable that he will hear about it from someone soon. Cousins and second cousins are calling to find out what’s happened, everyone worried to death. I myself am afraid to publish this for fear it will make my own mother worry too much back in the States. And what do I know anyway? My in-laws have all lived through years that make me shudder—when assassinations of Kurdish politicians, no matter how smallfry were happening everyday, and going to prison meant certain torture and mutilation. It seems different now, but then this arrest seemed impossible just a few months ago.
Meanwhile, the prime minister has explained his counter-terror strategy:
"More democracy is the antidote to terror. The solution to terror lies in insisting on human rights, justice and freedoms,” Erdoğan said in a monthly address to the nation. “The [terrorists’] dirty calculations will fail, and those who expect gains from terror will not succeed.
I hope he has a Plan B, because I think this will get a lot worse before it gets better.
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Feb '11
Re: A Purge in Istanbul
By now, Turkey must be running the risk of a prison shortage with Erdogan arresting so many "enemies" -- Kurds, journalists, generals and would-be dissenters.