Turkish court releases Buyukada meeting suspects

By Murat Kaya

ISTANBUL

A court in Istanbul on Wednesday ordered the release of eight suspects from prison pending trial who were arrested in a police raid during a meeting on Buyukada Island off Istanbul in July.

According to a judicial source who spoke on condition of anonymity, a total of 11 suspects, eight of whom were held in jail, were accused of being members of and aiding an armed terror organization.

Three of the suspects are on trial without arrest.

The suspects are German national Peter Frank Steudtner, Swedish national Ali Ghravi and nine Turkish nationals, namely Amnesty International Turkey Director Idil Eser, Veli Acu, Taner Kilic, Nalan Erkem, Ozlem Dalkiran, Ilknur Ustun, Gunal Kursun, Nejat Tastan and Seyhmus Ozbekli.

The court also ordered travel bans for the suspects Ozlem Dalkiran, Veli Acu, Nejat Tastan and Seyhmus Ozbekli, the source said.

One of the suspects, Taner Kilic, a representative of Amnesty International in Turkey, had been detained earlier for using ByLock, an encrypted messaging app used by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people martyred and some 2,200 injured.

Turkey accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

The court has postponed the hearing until Nov. 22 to hear the witness testimony of the manager of the hotel where the meeting was held.