BDP: Raids in KCK probe ‘civilian coup’

ISTANBUL - ANKARA

‘All those political detentions are being carried out as part of a concept activated not by the judiciary but the government,’ says Hasip Kaplan. AA photo

‘All those political detentions are being carried out as part of a concept activated not by the judiciary but the government,’ says Hasip Kaplan.

The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) has slammed as a “civilian coup” the latest wave of detentions in the probe into the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), accusing the government of direct involvement in the process.

“The incidents that happened [yesterday] are clearly a process of a civilian coup,” BDP Deputy Group Chairman Hasip Kaplan told a press conference in Parliament yesterday after about 40 people, among them many journalists from Kurdish media, were detained across Turkey.

The operation aims to “bully and silence free media and dissident press organizations and render them ineffective,” he said. “All those political detention operations are being carried out as part of a concept activated not by the judiciary but the government.”

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) “is trying to finish the job started by Kenan Evren and the fascist junta,” Kaplan said, referring to the general who led the 1980 military coup in Turkey.