Turkish police raid human rights activist Eren Keskin's home

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Police raided the home of Turkey's Human Rights Association's (İHD) co-chair Eren Keskin on Dec. 3 night.

The İHD said that the raid was undertaken with the framework of an investigation against Keskin over a speech she gave in the eastern province of Dersim two and a half years ago.

İHD executive Zeynep Boztoprak reacted against the raid asking if it was a move of “intimidation.” “It seems they were going to take her [Keskin's] testimony over a speech she gave in Dersim two and a half years ago. Did you understand what she said in two and a half years? Eren Keskin is a lawyer; was it the case that you called her and she didn't come?” Boztoprak, who is also herself a lawyer, asked.

The İHD's central office also slammed the raid, saying Keskin was not detained and she will go to the police station to give her testimony on Dec. 7.

Keskin also commented on the raid saying that she is well aware of this “system” of oppression. “We are not going anywhere. [The location of] Our offices are known; call us and we would come. Do not come to our houses and disturb our families. It is very painful to talk about the freedom of thought and speech in this era. This is a geography in which [mafia leader] Aladdin Çakıcı and people like him have the freedom to threaten society. We do not have the power of the state behind us,” she wrote on Twitter.

Keskin is a renowned human rights defender both in Turkey and in the world and is often judicially harassed through investigations and lawsuits.