The chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, called his party’s Central Executive Board (MYK) for an emergency meeting on Saturday after the arrest of nine columnists and executives from the secular Cumhuriyet daily.
Kılıçdaroğlu reportedly cancelled his domestic trips scheduled for the weekend following a new series of crackdowns against media and the opposition.
The editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet and eight staff members from the daily were arrested on Saturday.
On Friday, Kurdish opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ were arrested along with seven other Kurdish deputies.