KCK suspects sent to court, PKK leader may be questioned

Forty-six suspects who were detained Nov. 22 in 16 different provinces across Turkey as part of the ongoing Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) probe were transferred to a courthouse in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district Nov. 25.

Another 43 suspects detained in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır as part of the KCK probe were also transferred to court there on the same day.

Eleven more people, including Abdullah Akikol, the provincial head of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in the southeastern province of Mardin, were further detained Nov. 25 by police and sent to the court in Diyarbakır as well.

The suspects in Istanbul, including former Democracy Party (DEP) deputy Mahmut Alınak, were taken to the Forensics Institute at around 5 a.m., after which they were taken to court by in a riot police vehicle, according to reports.

The 43 suspects detained in Diyarbakır also include deputy district mayors, members of the provincial assembly, BDP administrators and members of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), a legal umbrella organization of pro-Kurdish groups.

Some 42 of the 46 suspects are lawyers detained in connection with claims concerning Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who allegedly relayed his directives to the KCK through his lawyers from the İmralı Island Prison, where he is serving a life sentence.

Öcalan could be questioned as part of the probe, especially to shed light on the alleged links between the KCK and the PKK, according to reports.

The KCK is an armed and illegally organized body that makes its own independent decisions and which must not become involved with the DTK, Öcalan allegedly said, according to notes seized from his lawyers.

The BDP is primarily focused on the Kurdish issue.

The KCK is the alleged urban wing of the PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.