Within the last two days, at least 143 mostly young people from the HDP environment have been taken into custody in Istanbul, Adana, Bursa, Kocaeli, Antep and other provinces, announced Ümit Dede, deputy spokesman of the Human Rights Committee of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Dede criticized the reporting in the state-affiliated Turkish media, saying, "The government media acts like the judiciary and gives a headline to the arrest of political activists as '21 terrorists arrested'."

The HDP politician attributed the current wave of repression to the fear of the ruling bloc. He said that the AKP/MHP coalition has its back to the wall and is using fascist methods to intimidate HDP politicians, students, media workers, political activists and democratic institutions. "The wave of arrests against our party and democratic institutions cannot be justified in any way with legal arguments," Dede stressed.

Among those arrested in Antep are two lawyers. Dede pointed out that legal assistance to opposition activists is increasingly criminalized: "The government perceives it as a threat to its interests and existence when rights and freedoms are defended legally."

The HDP demanded an immediate end to the persecution of lawyers and the release of all those detained.