Mahmut Sakar, lawyer, Vice-President of Human Rights Association (IHD) and President of its Diyarbakir branch; Sinan Tanrikulu, lawyer, board member of IHD and secretary of Diyarbakir branch; Vedat Cetin, board member of IHD Diyarbakir; Pirozhan Dogrul (f), board member of IHD Diyarbakir; Ozlem Cetin (f), board member of IHD Diyarbakir; Nebahat Akkoc (f), board member of IHD Diyarbakir; Haydar Kilicoglu, President of Diyarbakir branch of Egitim-Sen (Teacher’s trade union): On 22 May 1997 Mahmut Sakar and Sinan Tanrikulu were detained by police at the State Security Court in Diyarbakir, the other people named above were detained in separate police operations, including a raid on the Diyarbakir IHD office. The reasons for the police operations are unknown and there is concern that those named above may have been detained solely on account of their work as human rights defenders or trade unionists, and that they may be subjected to torture or ill-treatment during interrogation.
