The Case of Cihan Kırmızıgül
Keffiyeh Crime in Turkey
by MICHAEL DICKINSON
On February 20th 2010 Cihan Kırmızıgül, a junior industrial engineering student of Galatasaray University, was waiting at a bus stop in Istanbul after a visit to a college friend’s home. Suddenly he was approached by Turkish police who arrested him violently, one cracking his skull with a blow from his rifle butt, and took him away to be detained at a prison in the west of Istanbul, charged with “membership of an illegal organization” and “harming private property”. The reason for his surprise arrest was the scarf he was wearing around his neck – the traditional black and white checked Arab headdress known as the ‘keffiyeh’.
More:Keffiyeh Crime in Turkey » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names
