On 25 April, 19 days before the parliamentary and presidential elections in Turkey, there were numerous arrests of Kurds in the morning hours. Police arrested more than 100 people, including journalists, politicians, lawyers, artists and activists in 21 cities and 19 provinces. The raids, which were carried out as part of an investigation in Diyarbakır, mainly targeted pro-Kurdish organisations. The Dicle Culture and Art Association, the Mezopotamya Culture and Art Association and the Amed Municipal Theatre were targeted in the raids. In addition to numerous lawyers and journalists, actresses from the Amed Municipal Theatre – Elvan Koçer, Şahperi Alphan, Kevnar İnal, Sena Özbey, Özcan Ateş and Yavuz Akkuzu – were arrested at their homes in Diyarbakır in the early hours of the morning. The reason for their arrests was not given. The Amed Municipal Theatre has been performing in Kurdish for many years and has a regular audience of thousands, both in the city and throughout Turkey and abroad.

We want to show solidarity with our colleagues and demand their early release.