MR SANAR YURDATAPAN, a Turkish composer turned peace activist who was due to speak in Ireland this week, has been formally accused of "sheltering and aiding members of an illegal organisation" - a veiled reference to the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Held at Istanbul's Metris prison, Mr Yurdatapan faces a separate charge of providing false passports.
The musician was detained at Istanbul airport on April 16th. He was returning from a trip to Germany, where he had been given him asylum and a new nationality after the 1980 military coup.
In a statement, to the press, Mr Yurdatapan admitted he had been bringing pass ports from Germany bearing the photographs of twos ex-PKK guerillas. When police raided his office, they found and detained the two men, Mr Murat Demir and Mr Murat Ipek. Mr Yurdatapan denied knowing their passports were false.
In February the daily Radikal had published interviews in which Mr Demir and Mr Ipek confessed that after their arrest as PKK guerrillas they had agreed to collaborate with the Turkish security forces and had taken part in murders of Kurdish nationalists.
Their statements shocked the Turkish public coming as they did after a car crash last November in Susurluk which revealed links between a senior policeman, a right wing gangster and a pro government Turkish landowner.
A parliamentary inquiry confirmedrecently that right wing gangs involved in criminal activities were well entrenched in the state apparatus. Members of the special teams attached to the Turkish police have been arrested in connection with the "Susurluk scandal". However, no steps have been taken to remove the parliamentary immunity of the politicians named in the inquiry report. Mr Onur Yurdata on the composer's brother, says the defence will hand over to the court documents proving that Mr Demir and Mr Ipek were employed by the Turkish state. Mr Sanar Yurdatapan explained that he had helped the two men because he "wanted to take steps to prevent then being silenced".