Police detain 26 ‘IS’ suspects in Istanbul

17 foreigners among arrested

ISTANBUL, July 30, (Agencies): Anti-terror officers in Istanbul detained 26 suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, Turkish media reported.

Seventeen foreigners were among those detained, state-run Anadolu news agency said, without giving details of their nationalities.

Police seized several electronic devices and documents during the operation in nine different Istanbul districts, the agency said.

Officers suspected those detained had links to “people in conflict zones”, Hurriyet daily reported, but not saying in which countries.

Turkey has been hit by a series of attacks in the last 18 months blamed on IS and Kurdish militants.

The last major IS attack was during New Year’s Eve celebrations at an elite Istanbul nightclub where a gunman killed 39 people, most of them foreigners.

There have been frequent police raids since against IS including one on July 12 in the central Turkish province of Konya when police killed five alleged IS extremists.

The Turkish border with Syria was previously a key transit point for IS recruits and supplies before Turkey tightened security and launched a military operation to clear the jihadists from the frontier last August.

Erdogan

Turkish women march in rights protest:

Hundreds of Turkish women marched in the country’s biggest city Istanbul on Saturday to protest against the violence and animosity they face from men demanding they dress more conservatively.

The march, dubbed “Don’t Mess With My Outfit”, started in the Kadikoy district on the Asian side of the city. Women chanted slogans and carried denim shorts on hangers as examples of the type of clothing some men say they find unacceptable.

“We will not obey, be silenced, be afraid. We will win through resistance,” the crowds chanted, holding up posters and LGBT rainbow flags.

Istanbul has long been seen as a relatively liberal city for women and gay people.

But critics say President Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party have shown little interest in expanding rights for minorities, gays and women, and are intolerant of dissent.

Protesters say there has been an increasing number of verbal and physical attacks against women for their choice of clothing.

In one incident in June, a young woman, Asena Melisa Saglam, was attacked by a man on a bus in Istanbul for wearing shorts during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Video of the incident showed the man hitting her while the bus driver watched.

“Are you not ashamed of dressing like this during Ramadan?” the footage showed the man saying.

In another incident, Canan Kaymakci, was harassed on the street in Istanbul when a man accused her of wearing provocative clothing, saying she should be careful because she was “turning people on”.

Another woman, Aysegul Terzi, was called a devil and kicked by a man on a public bus, also for wearing shorts. Footage showed the man telling her that those who wear shorts “should die”.

Turkish footballer freed:

Turkish authorities on Saturday freed international footballer Bekir Irtegun a day after detaining him on suspicion of links to a group blamed for last year’s failed coup aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Irtegun, who played for six years for Fenerbahce before joining Istanbul rivals Basaksehir in 2015, had been taken into police custody as part of the investigation into the group of US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen.

He was freed after giving testimony to prosecutors, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. Irtegun is barred from leaving the country.

Turkey accuses Gulen of masterminding the coup bid from the United States and leading a group Ankara calls the Fethullah Terror Group (FETO). Gulen denies the charges.

Irtegun’s passport was confiscated when he tried to leave the country two weeks ago and Basaksehir have already annulled their contract with the player.

The defender, 33, has appeared ten times for the Turkish national side.

He is accused of downloading and sending messages through the Bylock messaging app which authorities suspect was used by Gulen’s supporters to coordinate the coup plot, according to press reports on Friday.

Over 50,000 people are being held under arrest in the wake of the coup plot, in a crackdown that has caused international controversy.

The crackdown has also touched football with the authorities issuing an arrest warrant for former star footballer Hakan Sukur who played a key role in Turkey’s glorious run to third place in the 2002 World Cup.

Pro-Kurdish lawmakers status stripped:

Turkey’s parliament stripped two pro-Kurdish lawmakers of their parliamentary status on Thursday, further reducing the presence of the HDP, the second-largest opposition party in the general assembly.

The government says the HDP is an affiliate of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged an armed insurgency in the largely Kurdish southeast for more than three decades. The HDP denies direct links to the PKK.

The move to strip Tugba Hezer and Faysal Sariyildiz of their status was read out in parliament after an appeal to remove their membership was submitted and voted on.

The two were removed on grounds of “discontinuity”, or missing general assembly meetings, bringing the number of seats occupied by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) to 55 in the 550-seat assembly.

The HDP had 59 lawmakers elected to parliament in the November 2015 general election but has since lost four members.

“This will go down as a battle for democracy, and in yours as a black stain. We will continue to make politics, whether in jail or in parliament,” said Filiz Kerestecioglu, a lawmaker for the HDP.

In February, parliament stripped Figen Yuksekdag, one of the HDP’s two leaders, of her membership. Her co-leader Selahattin Demirtas was jailed, and Yuksekdag was subsequently replaced as co-chair.