Reader of Partizan Abducted by the Political Police in Antep

We hereby share an unofficial translation of a note published by Yeni Demokrasi.

In Antep, at midday, a Partizan reader was abducted in the street by three people who identified themselves as “police officers” after his vehicle blocked their path.

The abducted Partizan reader stated that he was taken to the Gaziantep Political Section, where he was interrogated unofficially and pressured to cooperate.

The Partizan reader who spoke to our newspaper described the incident as follows:

While I was on my way to the kiosk to buy something, a car cut me off. Three people got out of the car. They called out to me: “Is that you?” They asked me questions. When I asked who they were, one of them showed me a police ID and said: “We are from the TEM (Anti-Terrorism Department).” These three people forced me into a vehicle under torture. Then they took me to the Political Section of Gaziantep. They asked me questions such as: “When did you join the organization?”, “Who organized you?”, “Are there other people involved?” They also asked me about a journalist friend. They took my phone by force and demanded that I unlock it. I said that I did not accept their questions or their attempts to turn me into a collaborator, and that I would exercise my right to remain silent. I requested the presence of my lawyer, but they took no action. They also did not show me any arrest warrant from the prosecutor’s office. I was held at the Gaziantep Political Section for almost 10 hours. Afterwards, they told me I could leave. This is clearly a practice of kidnapping and creating agents and collaborators. Last Thursday, a Ford van also stopped me near my home and tried to kidnap me. However, as I had acquaintances in the area, those who wanted to detain me did not achieve their goal. We were unable to contact them. We will initiate the necessary legal proceedings against these individuals with my lawyer.