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RE: TURKEY – ARREST OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS MS VETHA AYDIN AND MR ABDULLAH GÜRGEN AND ONGOING DETENTION OF MR MUHARREM ERBEY
Human rights defenders Ms Vetha Aydın and Mr Abdullah Gürgen were arrested on 16 March 2010 in Siirt in the southeast of Turkey. Vetha Aydın is the President of the Siirt Branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) and Abdullah Gürgen is one of its board members. Meanwhile Mr Muharrem Erbey, the IHD National Vice President and President of IHD Diyarbakir Branch arrested on 24 December 2009, remains in detention.
In the early hours of the morning of 16 March 2010, Vetha Aydın and Abdullah Gürgen were arrested at their respective homes in Siirt by members of the police Anti-Terrorism Unit and brought to the police headquarters. The police officers presented a warrant from the Special Prosecutor’s Office in Diyarbakır at the time of the arrests. The following day, 17 March 2010, at approximately 2 pm, Abdullah Gürgen was released from custody. Vetha Aydın remains in detention at the E-type closed prison in Siirt for ‘aiding an illegal organisation’.
Following the arrests on 16 March 2010, the IHD offices in Siirt were subjected to a three hour long police search between 5.30 am and 8:30 am. All the membership registration forms on the premises were photographed during the search and a hard disk, some files, compact discs and letters that were sent to the organisation by prisoners regarding violations against them were confiscated.
These arrests are allegedly part of an ongoing anti-terrorism operation, which has however targeted several human rights defenders. On 24 December 2009, 36 Kurdish political leaders, journalists, and human rights defenders were arrested in 11 Turkish provinces. Muharrem Erbey was among those arrested on this occasion. He was charged with “membership of an illegal organisation”. He continues to be detained in the Diyarbakır D-Type prison. Earlier last year, in May, four other human rights defenders and IHD members were arrested, including Filiz Kalayci who was only released on 28 January 2010.
Front Line believes that the arrest and detention of Vetha Aydın, Abdullah Gürgen and Muharrem Erbey are directly related to their work with IHD in defence of human rights.
Front Line calls on you to urge the authorities in Turkey to:
1. Immediately and unconditionally release Vetha Aydın and Muharrem Erbey, as Front Line believes that they are being held solely as a result of their legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights;
2. Ensure that the treatment of Vetha Aydın and Muharrem Erbey, while in detention, adheres to all those conditions set out in the ‘Basic Principles for Treatment of Prisoners’, adopted by General Assembly resolution 45/111 of 14 December 1990;
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Turkey are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals.
Yours sincerely,
Mary Lawlor
Director