Trial of publisher Zarakolu and professor Ersanli to begin on 2 July

BDP calls on international opinion to attend KCK trials

The BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) has called on the international opinion to attend the trial of Rag?p Zarakolu (publisher) and Bu?s?ra Ersanli (university professor) which will open on 2 July at the court of special authority in Istanbul.
The trial is part of the ongoing so called KCK (Kurdish Communities Union) operations, which have resulted in the arrest and prosecution of thousands of Kurdish politicians, lawyers, deputies, councillors, human rights activists, academics, journalists and many other activists working for non-government organizations.
While 35117 people are imprisoned on charges of terrorism worldwide, 12897 of these people are in Turkey.

As it is known more than 7000 Kurdish people, including 6 deputies, 34 mayors, and hundreds members of city council and executive members of the BDP have been arrested. Concurrent and periodic police operations have been continuing since 14 April 2009 after the victory of the pro-Kurdish. 41 lawyers have been imprisoned since 25 November 2011. Immediately after, another police operation was launched against Kurdish journalists and academicians.

Not only Kurdish politicians, but also Turkish democrats, lawyers, journalists, thousands of students and NGO members are being jailed by the AKP Government without any reasonable grounds. The Anti-Terror Law, Turkish Criminal Code and Law of Criminal Procedure especially allow prosecutors to arrest Kurds and opposition activists without any evidence. The BDP called on the public opinion to show its “solidarity with those who are arrested in connection to KCK operations and internationalize their cases”.

The invitation to the international opinion is to attend the trial.

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