Turkey: Designer and Gezi protester Barbaros Şansal claims to have been kidnapped

Barbaros Şansal, a renowned Turkish designer who became one of the prominent symbols of the Gezi Park protests, claims to have been kidnapped on the night of Aug. 3. Şansal claimed that three people, who had introduced themselves as policemen in plain clothes, took him to a car outside of his house late on the night of Aug.3, and that he was then held until the early hours of Aug. 4, online Turkish news portal OdaTV reported on its website. “They did not treat me badly. They only spoke but I do not want to speak about what they told me. When I came back, I testified at the Sarıyer Police station and told them I did not file a complaint against them [the people Şansal claims to have kidnapped him],” Şansal is reported as saying. Şansal went missing late in the night of Aug.3, after a live telephone interview on Halk TV, a broadcaster known for its opposition to the government, where he talked about the police’s excessive use of force in Taksim on the same evening. News spread across Twitter with the hashtag #Barbarosşansalnerede (#whereisbarbarossansal) that Şansal had been detained. Şansal tweeted on the morning of Aug.4, that he was back home safe and sound. His lawyer Efkan Bolaç said later on his Twitter account that they had decided to file a complaint against the people who held him. The complaint would be based on the restriction of liberty and abduction, he added.