Police goes after young people condemning ISIL and calling out for secularism
Officers at İstanbul police department goes after a group of young people who went into a café in their town, Okmeydanı, to send across a ‘message against ISIL and other bigot organizations and to make a call for protection of secularism’ in the face of attacks Turkey has been faced with.
While it was reported earlier this morning (January 2) that one of the members of the group, Ayşegül Başar, has been taken into custody, latest reports reveal the houses of the other two people in the group have also been raided by police. The young men were not at home at the time of police search. Police asked of the young men to their neighbors.
Operation of the police came after an announcement of Turkey’s Interior Ministry where a video of the young people’s speech at a café was shared and the people in the video were targeted by the Ministry. The Ministry asked people to report to police about ‘the young people in the video’ if they see them anywhere.
Reacting to the acts of the Interior Ministry, CHP MP Barış Yarkadaş said: “They try to catch not the perpetrator of the terror act but those who condemn ISIL and praise secularism.”