The former president of the Judges and Prosecutors Association (YARSAV), Mustafa Arslan, has been missing since he was detained on Wednesday by Turkish police under the post-coup emergency rule.
A group of lawyers representing Arslan stated in a petition on Friday to the responsible prosecutor in Ankara that they want to know the whereabouts of their client as well as the accusations leveled against him. The lawyers said they were denied the right to talk to their client either in person or by phone.
Arslan was recently dismissed from his post at the Court of Accounts as a result of an investigation into the faith-based Gülen movement.
YARSAV was among the thousands of institutions closed down by the government in the first decree issued in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15. A state of emergency declared after the coup made it possible for the government to issue decrees that have the force of law and do not require the approval of Parliament.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement. The movement strongly denies any involvement in the coup attempt.
Despite Gülen and the movement having denied the accusation and calling for an international investigation, Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government launched a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
(Turkey Purge)
