Turkish police forces arrest 60 anarchists in night raids

That's awful. How long are they likely to be held?

Holy guacamole, this is madness! I once red in a Noam Chomsky something about him acting as an international observer for Turkish activists likely meant the difference between death sentance and life imprisonment. Someone call Chomsky!

do ABC or similar orgs have any sort of presence in the area (or contacts even if they're not on the ground)?

Some updates:

15 out of 60 people sent to court with the demand of arrest and rest was released

http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos336/ainfos51395.html

(en) An Open Letter From Anarchist Prisoners in Turkey to the Public

As known, there had been attack to some banks and companies which are around the MecidiyekÃy-ÅiÅli by some anarchists who are within the Anarchist block on 1st of May 2012. We, as 9 of the 60 people who had been taken to the custody with the blames of the Police Department. We, as 9 anarchist prisoners whom were arrested by the decision of the 9th Criminal Court and had been put in to the Metris - Type T prison writing this letter. -- Most of us got under custody by the Counter-Terror Squads on 14th of may, 5 a.m. in the morning, and some on the following day. Our computers, telephones, flash drives, books and many other personal stuffs' got seized by the the police which were around 10-20 who came to our home. The claim that have been by the police department to us was the "damaging public property in the name of terror organization".

june 12th: Freedom for the turkish anarchists

Freedom for the imprisoned anarchists in Istanbul/Turkey!
International day of solidarity - June 12th, 2012

On May 14th 60 people who participated in the Mayday parade in Istanbul were arrested and their homes searched. They are accused of "damaging public property in the name of a terrorist organization", because during the parade a couple of banks were damaged. Nine of them are still kept in prison. One of them (who identifies as LGBT -lesbian bisexual gay transgender) was the target of hate speech.
Using the threat of 15-20 years of prison, some of these nine were pressured during the first days (which they spent isolated from their families, friends and lawyers) and confessed to being leaders of a terrorist organization. This accusation seems absurd if one looks at the different parts of the anarchist movements they were active in - from animal rights to human rights, ecological movement and LGBT.
It is the first time that activists from the anarchist spectrum, the animal rights and ecological movement are accused of being a terrorist organization. The same method of repression has a long and sad tradition against kurdish and other left groups and individuals.

It is therefore even more necessary to show the agencies of repression that the imprisoned activists are not isolated, but that they have a broad, international movement standing behind them, which values the defense of lives and the dignity of humans and animals more than a few (broken) windows. In an open letter the nine prisoners speak for the first them ( http://www.ainfos.ca/en/ainfos26423.html) and the organization Yeryüzüne Özgürlük Derneği (Freedom to Earth Association) calls for international solidarity
( http://de.indymedia.org/2012/05/330671.shtml).

On June 12th people in many countries all over the world will demonstrate in front of Turkish embassies to show their solidarity with the prisoners and to demand their release. Organize actions in your own city ( http://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkish-representations.en.mfa)!
Do not leave the prisoners alone!

Support the turkish activists and demand their immediate release!

Anyone know of anything planned for today?

There's a conference this week in which the Turkish ambassador will be at and I was thinking about going and asking about this (among other things). Anyone have any updates on the matter?