Among those taken into custody were Dogu Perincek, the chairman of the Workers Party (IP), businessman Ibrahim Benli; the former dean of Istanbul University Prof. Dr. Kemal Alemdaroglu; Serhan Bolluk, the editor-in-chief of the magazine Aydinlik; Perincek’s bodyguard Yusuf Beserik, and journalist Adnan Akfirat.
Also detained were Ferit Ilsever, an executive of private televisions station Ulusal Kanal, and Ilhan Selcuk, the chairman of the board of trustees of the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet.
According to Erkan Onsel, the deputy chairman of the IP, police carried out simultaneous operations at the branches of the IP, Ulusal Kanal and Aydinlik magazine in Istanbul and Ankara between 4:00 and 4:30 am.
Workers’ Party chairman Perincek was taken into custody early Friday morning in Ankara and taken by officers of the anti-terror squad to police headquarters. It is believed he will be transferred to Istanbul.
