Yesterday, the fascist oligarchy in Turkey launched a wave of mass arrests against members and supporters of the Marxist-Leninist People’s Front movement. According to the information known at this moment, nearly 100 people have been detained by the political police in various parts of the country, and the number of detainees continues to grow.

A large-scale operation against members and supporters of the Marxist-Leninist People’s Front movement across Turkey was launched yesterday by the fascist oligarchy. Dozens of revolutionaries were detained, some after raids against their homes, others abducted from the streets, and some detained while traveling on public transport. As usual, agents of the political police, heavily armed SWAT teams, and riot police squads are involved in the operations.

Among detained are architects, engineers, lawyers, workers, civil servants, teachers, health workers, students, young people, and musicians. Members of the leftist revolutionary music band Grup Yorum and members of folk choirs formed by the band in various parts of Turkey were detained during the ongoing police operations.

According to lawyers from the People’s Law Bureau(lawyers organization of People’s Front), the operation, which began yesterday across the country, is in connection with an investigation launched by the Istanbul prosecutor’s office. Authorities declined to provide additional information to the lawyers because the investigation materials were classified and access to information was prohibited. Also, in connection with the same investigation, all detainees were banned from meeting with their lawyers for 24 hours. For this reason, the lawyers from the People’s Law Bureau were unable to meet with their detained clients. For some of the people who were detained, an order was issued to extend their detention period for another 4 days, after the expiration of the initial period of 24 hours.

According to the information we have at the moment, some of the detainees in the operation are being held under custody in the headquarters of Istanbul’s political police, but it is not clear where are held the detainees from other parts of Turkey. There is information for raids and arrests in, a total of 12 provinces of the country. There are currently confirmed reports of arrests in the cities of Adana (southern Turkey), the capital city Ankara, Antalya(southern Turkey), Bursa (western Turkey), Denizli (southwestern Turkey), Diyarbakir (Northern Kurdistan / Eastern Turkey), Izmir, Istanbul, Mersin (southern Turkey) and the Hatay, (on the border with Syria).

The bourgeois media, which serves the fascist oligarchy, began to report on the mass arrests only in the early morning hours today, presenting the recent events as an “operation against an illegal organization” and stating that detention orders had been issued for a total of 120 people, as 99 of them were detained. Again, according to the bourgeois media, police have been carried out raids against a total of 87 addresses across Turkey.

People’s Front strongly condemned the detention of its members and supporters, saying, “We are not just 120 people, but millions.” According to the movement, the reason for the wave of mass arrests against is the political victory achieved as a result of the Death Fast resistance of political prisoner Mustafa Koçak, members of the Grup Yorum, lawyers from the People’s Law Bureau, and political prisoners Didem Akman and Ozgur Karakaya in the last year and a half. The large-scale police operation is aimed at destroying the gains of political victory and, if not destroying, the movement it will weaken it. The government also aims to neutralize the opposition and break all those who are still fighting for their rights and freedoms, despite the open fascist dictatorship imposed in the country.

This is the largest operation of the fascist oligarchy in Turkey against the People’s Front in recent years, showing the extent of the crisis of the oligarchy’s inability to rule the masses and the desperate attempts to destroy revolutionaries who are fighting for independence, democracy, and socialism despite all attacks of imperialism and oligarchy.

List of names of people who have been reportedly detained:

Istanbul

1. Ali Aracı (member of Grup Yorum)

2. Barış Yüksel (member of Grup Yorum)

3. Barış Gürses (photographer)

4. Cenk Turan (member of popular choir part of Grup Yorum)

5. Dilan Poyraz (member of Grup Yorum)

6. Eren Erdem (member of Grup Yorum)

7. Emrah Uludağ (member of popular choir part of Grup Yorum)

8. Özgürcan Elbiz (member of popular choir part of Grup Yorum)

9. Seher Adugüzel (member of Grup Yorum)

10. Metin Kaleli (member of popular choir part of Grup Yorum)

11. Meral Hır ((member of Grup Yorum)

12. Yaşar Coşkun Karadağ (member of popular choir part of Grup Yorum)

13. Adalet Karataştan

14. Ayça Artığ

15. Bengisu Demirel

16. Beste Yılmaz

17. Boran Hurustan

18. Volkan Çeşme

19. Doğan Karataştan

20. Özgür Karakoç

21. Mahir Doğan

22. Mehmet Aras

23. Merve Demirel

24. Olcay Abalay

25. Orhan Adcar

26. Senem Arsak

27. Turkan Albayrak

28. Ferdaniye Artiğ

29. Zeynep Gonca Karakoç

Izmir

1. Mahir Kılıç

2. Yağmur Senem Demirel

Ankara

1. Eray Küçükklavuz

2. Mayıs Kurt

3. Taylan Cemal Sungur

Adana

1. Sanem Farsak

Antalya

1. Mehmet Ali Uğurlu

Bursa

1. Yalçın Doğru

Denizli

1. Lawyer Seda Şaraldı – People’s Law Bureau

Diyarbakir

1. Sercan Toptancı

Mersin

1. Volkan Baran

2. Yusuf Gül

Hatay

1. Erhan Arslan

2. İdil Kayıkçı (member of popular choir part of Grup Yorum)

3. İpek Arslan

4. Sadak Altuñoz

5. Sever Işık

6. Sevilay Işık

7. Sinan Okur

8. Ümit Özçelik