The Central Office of the Confederation of the Public Employee's Unions (the KESK ) and the offices of the branches of Egitim-Sen affiliated to the KESK have been raided by the police on May 28 early in the morning. {divide}
The police operations were carried out according to the decision of the 10th Heavy Penal Court of Izmir. During the operations, the Central Office of the KESK in Ankara at first place as well as several branches in Izmir, Ankara, Istanbul, Van and Manisa were raided, 35 public employees affiliated to the KESK were arrested, and official letters of the trade union activists, CDs and computers were confiscated. Songul Morsumbul, secretary of the Women's Commission of the KESK, Gulcin Isbert, secretary of the Women's Commission of Egitim-Sen, Abdurrahman Tasdemir, former general secretary of the KESK and Elif Akgul, former secretary of the Women's Commission of Egitim-Sen are among those who were arrested during the raids that are carried out as a continuation of the recent operations against the DTP and the Kurdish national movement. 6 out of those who were arrested in Izmir have been set free. It has been announced that those who are still under arrest will be taken to the court on May 29.
The Executive Committee of the KESK has issued a statement concerning the police raids and detentions and characterised the operations as a fascistic measure. The KESK stated the following: "The police repression on our confederation which is a labour organisation does not fit in with any democratic measure. This fascistic attitude that aims at intimidating the KESK and destroy its fight for labour and democracy will never succeed. We strongly condemn this attitude towards our colleagues. We want them to be set free immediately."