Eight top members of Turkey's main medical association, including its chief, were Monday freed from detention for denouncing Ankara's military offensive Syria against a Kurdish militia, their organisation said. Turkey launched operation "Olive Branch" on January 20 to support Syrian rebels with ground troops and air strikes against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in its western enclave of Afrin.
Ankara views the YPG as a "terrorist" offshoot of outlawed Kurdish militants in Turkey. Turkish authorities last week detained all 11 members of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) central council for a statement which said that "war is a man-made public health problem" and called for peace. On Friday, three members were released under observation.
A TTB official told AFP the remaining eight, including the TTB head Rasit Tukel, were released under the same conditions on Monday after giving statements to Ankara prosecutor. The TTB had said that conflicts lead to "irreparable problems" and ended its declaration with the words: "No to war, peace right now".
The association has over 83,000 members representing 80 percent of Turkey's doctors. Authorities launched an investigation into the TTB last week. The members are accused of "propaganda for a terror organisation" and "inciting hatred and hostility". President Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously hit out at the body, saying: "They are not intellectuals, they are a gang of unthinking slaves."