Dawn raids in multiple cities in Turkey: journalists, politicians detained

28 people, including politicians, village leaders, journalists, and musicians were arrested in early morning raids in five cities for posting on social media and sending money to prisoners. The police broke into some of the houses knocking down their doors, Mezopotamya Agency reported.

The Mersin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into social media posts and allegations of money transfers to prisoners through the Cukurova Association for the Support of Prisoners' Families (Cukurova TUAY-DER).

In the early hours of the morning, police conducted raids on various addresses in Mersin, Ankara, Antalya, Adana, and Izmir as part of the ongoing investigation.

The investigation, which is being conducted on charges of "making organizational propaganda" and "providing financial support to prisoners," also included a raid on the Cukurova TUAY-DER building, with ongoing searches reported.

Among the names of those detained are Selim Ekici, a manager at Cukurova TUAY-DER, and Cengiz Dere and Kadri Ezer from the DBP.

Delal Akyuz, a reporter for Mezopotamya Agency (MA), was detained in house raids carried out in Izmir.

In the morning wee hours, soldiers and police officers also conducted raids on numerous houses in the Nusaybin and Kızıltepe districts of Mardin province.

During the operation in Nusaybin's rural Mendere neighborhood, former Co-Chair of the HDP District Siyar Koc, village head Faris Alak, and Firat Demir were taken into custody.

In the Kiziltepe district, Mahmut Damar, DBP former provinçiel co-chair, along with two other citizens were detained. The reason for their detention was stated as "assisting the organization." It was noted that the number of detentions could increase.

In a probe conducted by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, 191 individuals were detained on April 25 in house raids across 21 cities, with over 50 people, including journalists and lawyers, being arrested.

As part of the same investigation, Serko Kaniwar (Aslan Aydogan), the Music Coordinator for MA, was also detained. Aydogan was apprehended at Diyarbakır Airport upon his return from Germany. Aydogan is expected to be brought before the court today, Mezopotamya reported.