Turkish police detain leading civil society figure - media

Turkish police have detained the prominent civil society figure and businessman Osman Kavala at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport as part of a secret investigation, the T24 news website and other media said on Thursday.

The T24 news website cited Kavala's lawyer as saying he had been taken to the counter-terror police department after an order was issued for him to be detained for seven days. Police in Istanbul were not immediately available to comment.

Kavala is the chairman of the Anadolu Kultur cultural institution and police seized computers from the organization's offices, the website said.

It said he was detained as he returned from a meeting in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.

The European Parliaments (EP) rapporteur on Turkey Kati Piri voiced concern about the arrest on Twitter.

"Very disturbing news that Osman Kavala has been detained in Istanbul. Will propose in EP to launch urgent call for his release," she wrote.

 

 

 

REUTERS