Police forcibly remove protesting veterans and martyrs' families in Ankara

Police forcibly removed protesting veterans and families of martyrs from Güvenpark in Ankara on Wednesday, ending their 38-day sit-in protest. The demonstrators were subsequently taken to the Gazi Uyumevi (Veterans' Guesthouse), where their efforts to proceed to the Interior Ministry were thwarted by police.

Erdem Çerçioğlu, the General President of the Martyrs' Families and Veterans Association, condemned the police action, describing it as a "hostile" and undignified removal. He stated that their protest was solely aimed at securing their "personal rights" and that they were exercising their rights as citizens.

"This morning, we were removed from the area with a hostile attitude, grabbed by the collar," Çerçioğlu said. "Projectors were shone into our eyes as if they were hunting rabbits. We were subjected to very bad treatment." He criticized the police's actions, noting that most officers wore masks, and he personally witnessed one officer aggressively tear down a Turkish flag displayed at the protest site.

Çerçioğlu further alleged that they were being held "hostage" at the veterans' guesthouse and were prevented from reaching the Interior Ministry to hold a press conference. "We were taken hostage, hostage. We are citizens of this country. We were not allowed out of the Gazi Uyumevi, from Bilkent. We were held hostage there, hostage... Your children have been taken hostage," he declared, appealing to the Turkish public.

İYİ Party Deputy Chairman Cenk Özatıcı expressed support for the veterans, emphasizing that their demands, including timely provision of prosthetic legs and addressing alleged injustices among martyrs' families, were reasonable. He stated that the party had stood with the veterans from the beginning.