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This is only the latest event in a series of worrying attacks on dissenting voices. From 21 July to 30 August, the Turkish Government conducted massive arrest operations in over 30 cities in the country. 2686 people, mainly Kurdish and leftist opponents from HDP, were arrested and 352 of these people were imprisoned. In August, two İHD representatives, Mr Emirhan Uysal and Mr Deniz Sürgüt, a lawyer, were arrested in separate operations in Sırnak. Deniz Sürgüt remains in pre-trial detention to this day. The President of Turkey called for the parliamentary immunity of HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas and other leading members of the party to be lifted on 28 July, disturbingly justifying this request by stating that “anyone with links to terrorist organisations must pay the price for this”.
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