Turkey detains Amnesty International director, 11 others

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - Turkish police on Wednesday detained twelve human rights activists, including Director of Amnesty International (AI) in Turkey, Idil Eser, in Istanbul's Buyukada island where they were holding a meeting.

Kurdistan24's Istanbul Bureau said it was not immediately clear why the police raided the Buyukada hotel where the group was attending a training workshop.

One German and one Swedish national, as well as the owner of the hotel, were detained.

There was no official explanation for the arrests, but pro-government Sabah newspaper described the raid as "a hunt for spies."

Amnesty International said the meeting was "a routine" training event, adding that the whereabouts of Eser and others detained alongside her remain unknown.

“We are profoundly disturbed and outraged that some of Turkey’s leading human rights defenders, including the Director of Amnesty International Turkey, should have been detained so blatantly without cause," the organization said on its website.

The detainees were held incommunicado and denied any communication with their lawyers and families for 24 hours according to laws which grant the judiciary and police forces extraordinary powers.

"This is a grotesque abuse of power and highlights the precarious situation facing human rights activists in the country," the statement read, calling for an immediate and unconditional release of Eser and others detained.

The AI statement criticized world leaders for "having been remarkably tolerant of Turkey’s human rights meltdown."

It called on leaders attending this week's G20 summit in Germany's Berlin to speak to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and secure the release of those detained.

Turkey has been under an extended state of emergency imposed in the aftermath of the failed July 2016 coup attempt to depose Erdogan.

Editing by G.H. Renaud