While a confidentiality order remains in place regarding the case of Niha+ reporter Abbas Vural who was among those detained during home raids conducted ahead of the NATO Summit to be held in Ankara on July 7–8, his detention period has been extended to 4 days. It has been reported that Vural was beaten during his detention.
The detention period for Abbas Vural, a Niha+ reporter who was taken into custody following a home raid on July 5, ahead of the NATO Summit scheduled for July 7–8 in Ankara, has been extended to four days.
Attorney Elif Yetigin stated that, due to a confidentiality order on the case, they do not yet know what Vural is accused of, adding that defense attorneys have not been allowed to review the case file until the interrogation process begins.
The raid was carried out by breaking down the door
Meanwhile, details regarding Abbas Vural’s detention have begun to emerge. According to information obtained, special operations and Counter-Terrorism Branch (TEM) police officers jointly broke down the door of the home where Vural was staying and entered the premises early yesterday morning (July 5). The police, who woke up the occupants by assaulting them, pinned Vural and those with him to the ground with their hands cuffed behind their backs. After seizing phones and computers and obtaining the passwords to the electronic devices, the police identified the occupants, allowed them to change their clothes, and took them into custody.
Confirming these events, Yetigin stated that the individuals, including our reporter Vural, documented the beatings and mistreatment they suffered during medical examinations at the hospital to which they were taken after their arrest.
Detentions before NATO summit
Turkish police have arrested several journalists, rights activists, academics and members of leftist groups, according to media and unions in Turkey on late June.
Detention operations carried out across Turkey ahead of the NATO summit continued on July 5. In simultaneous home raids conducted in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Kocaeli, Antalya, Dersim, Urfa, Çanakkale, and Bursa, a large number of people—including academics, lawyers, students, union members, and political party representatives—were taken into custody. It is known that some of the detentions were part of the “Turquoise Operation” carried out ahead of the NATO Summit.
Among those detained were Ezgi Önalan, President of the Istanbul Branch of the Association of Contemporary Lawyers (ÇHD), and association member Yunusemre Işık; Gürkan Gülseven, a member of the Executive Board of Halkevleri; Gülcan Şahin, President of the Antalya Halkevi; and the entire branch management; members of the Turkish Workers’ Party (TİP), Emek Youth, and the Kaldıraç Movement, as well as central and local executives of the Private Sector Teachers’ Union (Yiğit Pertev, Diğde Simay Pertev, and Mehmet Akif Karaca); academic Sibel Özbudun; and writer Temel Demirer.
In addition, press organizations such as DİSK Basın-İş and the Dicle Fırat Journalists’ Association (DFG) had expressed their opposition on social media to the detention of Niha+ reporter Abbas Vural, T24 foreign news editor Buse Söğütlü, and Oda TV editor Ceren Erdoğdu.