The new Turkey |
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| 06-Oct-2018 |
Prosecutors file to lift immunity from 15 opposition deputies
 A prosecutor’s office in Turkey’s capital city of Ankara has filed requests to lift the parliamentary immunity of 15 opposition deputies, Turkish news site Diken said on Friday, citing a report from the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency. The prosecutor wishes to take press charges on 12 deputies from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for allegedly creating propaganda for terrorists, and three from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has piled constant pressure on the HDP since it became the first pro-Kurdish party to win enough votes to break the country’s 10 per cent electoral threshold in the June 2015 elections. Shortly after the elections, a peace process broke down between the AKP and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a terrorist-designated armed group that has fought for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey since the 1980s. The charges against the 12 HDP deputies are related to statements made criticising Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch, a military assault launched in January this year against Syrian-Kurdish groups linked to the PKK in northwest Syria. They also refer to political statements made on International Women’s Day on March 8. Dozens of high-profile HDP politicians and activists have faced legal action since 2015 due to their alleged links to the PKK, including two of the party’s former co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ. The CHP politicians have been accused of “insulting the president,” a crime with a maximum four-year prison sentence according to the Turkish constitution, which does not clearly define what constitutes an insult. Erdoğan has launched around 2,000 legal cases against Turkish citizens, including schoolchildren, for alleged insults. The Turkish parliament decided to make it possible to lift politicians’ parliamentary immunity in a controversial vote in May 2016. CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu may have come to regret backing the vote, which has seen several of his party’s deputies and prominent figures sentenced, including Istanbul deputy Enis Berberoğlu. The HDP politicians facing the latest round of legal problems are Ayhan Bilgen, Ayşe Acar Başaran, Alican Önlü, Berdan Öztürk, Bedia Özgökçe Ertan, Feleknas Uca, Filiz Keresteci, Kemal Bülbül, Meral Danış Beştaş, İmam Taşçıer, Nimetullah Erdoğmuş and Pervin Buldan. On the CHP side, Çetin Osman Budak, Erdin Bircan and Aykut Erdoğdu face charges. Source
Summaries of proceedings filed for 3 HDP deputies due to Afrin criticism
HDP deputies Adem Geveri, Bedia Özgökçe Ertan and Lezgin Botan are facing charges of disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization in their messages on social media regarding the operation in Afrin. The summaries of proceedings against the deputies have been sent to the Turkish Parliament by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The Turkish military and Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters on Jan. 20 launched Operation Olive Branch in Afrin against the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Turkey sees as the Syrian extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have reacted strongly to people who oppose the operation, and prosecutor’s offices have initiated investigations into those who share social media messages critical of the operation.
Summaries of proceedings drafted for 19 HDP deputies
According to the report the summaries of proceedings have been prepared for deputies for “disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization” on May 2, 2016. The HDP deputies protested and walked out of a Constitution Commission meeting where a proposal to lift the political immunity of deputies was being discussed, in the Turkish Parliament on May 2, 2016. The prosecutor’s office accused HDP deputies Dirayet Taşdemir, Sibel Yiğitalp, Çağlar Demirel, Hüda Kaya, Ayşe Acar Başaran, Adem Geveri, Mithat Sancar, Ferhat Encu, Gülser Yıldırım, İbrahim Ayhan, Garo Paylan, Bedia Özgökçe Ertan, Meral Danış Beştaş, Mahmut Toğrul, Ertuğrul Kürkcü, Mizgin Irgat, Saadet Becerekli, Nadir Yıldırım and Ziya Pir of spreading propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) while leaving the commission meeting.
15 July 2017: HDP deputy Geveri released after brief detention
According to the report, Geveri was released after testifying to a Van court through the IT Voice and Image System (SEGBİS) system after he was detained in Ankara early Saturday on allegations of violating the Law on Demonstrations and Public Meetings (Law 2911). Earlier in January and in March, Geveri was released after brief detentions as part of an investigation into him and several HDP members on accusations of membership in a terrorist organization and disseminating the propaganda of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Currently, 11 HDP deputies including HDP Co-chairperson Selahattin Demirtaş are in jail. 27 January 2017: Arrest warrants issued for 2 HDP deputiesAs a crackdown against the Kurdish political movement in Turkey continues, a court in Van province on Friday issued arrest warrants for Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies Lezgin Botan and Adem Geveri. The court based the decision on the deputies’ absence from hearings in a trial in which they are accused of membership in a terrorist organization and terrorist propaganda. The two Kurdish deputies are also banned from travelling abroad. On Wednesday, four more Kurdish deputies were briefly detained. |
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The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has filed summaries of proceedings for three deputies from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on terror charges due to their criticism of a Turkish military operation in the Afrin region of Syria.
The Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office prepared summaries of proceedings for a total of 19 deputies of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and submitted them to the Justice Ministry on Monday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Van deputy Adem Geveri has been released after a brief detention in Ankara, the Diken news website reported on Saturday.
