An İstanbul court has ruled for the arrest of an Australian woman who was detained last week on charges of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
According to Anadolu, Çiğdem Aslan, 51, who adopted “Lenna” as her first name in Australia, was detained at İstanbul Airport before she was about to board a flight to Melbourne last week in a joint operation conducted by the İstanbul police and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT).
She had reportedly been under MİT surveillance for a long time.
Anadolu said Aslan, a nurse, was involved in PKK activities in Australia and had contact with the senior PKK officials there.
She was also the co-chairperson of a Kurdish organization linked to the PKK and participated in Australian protests against Turkish raids on Kurdish forces in Iraq.
The PKK, which has been waging a bloody war in Turkey’s southeast since 1984, is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies as well as Australia.
According to the website of the Melbourne-based Multicultural Center for Women’s Health, Aslan came to Australia 25 years ago as a Kurdish migrant from Turkey. She received her nursing degree from Ankara University and has a Diploma of Community Services and a Certificate 4 in Alcohol and Other Drugs Studies. Aslan, who worked in Australia as a registered nurse in various healthcare settings, has a passion for human and women’s rights, community volunteering and advocating for minorities, according to the Multicultural Center for Women’s Health.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that it was “providing consular assistance to an Australian woman detained in Türkiye” but did not give any further details.
It is common in Turkey for Kurdish people to face accusations of terrorism although they have not been involved in any acts violence.
Turkey is criticized by the international community for the vagueness and overuse of its anti-terrorism laws, which are widely employed to crack down on the government critics.
