Turkey grants Kurdish lawyer ‘protection’ after being targeted over Istanbul blast: Minister

Karwan Faidhi Dri

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish authorities have issued a “protection order” for a Kurdish female lawyer after she was falsely accused of being the main perpetrator of the recent deadly explosion in Istanbul by a far-right politician, said Turkey’s justice minister on Wednesday. 

A TNT explosion killed six people and injured 81 others in Istanbul’s famous Taksim thoroughfare on Sunday. Police published the CCTV footage of a woman who was believed to be the main suspect of the incident.
 
Immediately after the explosion, Adem Taskaya, deputy leader of the far-right Victory Party, claimed in a tweet that the woman in the footage was Jiyan Tosun, a Kurdish lawyer. 

“The person who carried out the heinous attack in Taksim is Jiyan Tosun who is a PKK lawyer,” he claimed. But after Turkish authorities identified the woman in the CCTV as a 23-year-old Syrian woman named Ahlam Albashir, Taskaya deleted the tweet. 

PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization.

Tosun told reporters on Monday that she had been receiving threats by people and had been targeted on social media due to Taskaya’s tweet. She later filed a lawsuit against the politician.  

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, attending a budget discussion at the parliament on Wednesday, said that a “protection order” has been issued to ensure the safety of the lawyer, reported the independent Duvar news outlet.  

Turkish police have detained about 50 suspects so far in relation to the blast. 

Turkish authorities have blamed the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) which controls northeast Syria (Rojava) for the explosion but the group has denied any responsibility. 
 
Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, said in a tweet late Wednesday that she was very concerned about threats against Tosun and her family. 
 
“Officials should publicly correct the record & provide protection,” she said.