Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has strongly criticized the arrest of journalists and writers, lambasting the authorities for preventing them from meeting with their families during the Eid al-Adha holiday.
Kılıçdaroğlu said in a tweet that those who talk about democracy have nothing to do with democracy as they do not allow journalists and writers who are now in prison see their families during the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice holy days.
More than 200 journalists and writers from around the world signed a memorandum calling for the release of respected political scientist and economist Mehmet Altan and his novelist brother Ahmet Altan, who were detained last week.
The government crackdown on media and dissent has elicited broad criticism in Turkey and abroad.