Hate speech against Alevi citizen on Parliamentary agenda

* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)

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The house of Sezer Öztürk, a citizen living in İstanbul's Esenyurt, has recently been marked with "X" and a writing of "Alevi go away Kurd."

Submitting a Parliamentary question about this hate speech targeting HDP's Öztürk, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) İstanbul MP Ali Kenanoğlu has asked Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu a series of questions.

According to Kenanoğlu, when Öztürk went to the police station to file a criminal complaint about the incident, he was threatened by legal action against himself for "provoking the public to enmity and hatred."

Kenanoğlu has asked Minister Soylu "why the aggrieved citizen was made to delete his social media posts by the police on duty at the station."

The MP has also raised concerns that he has submitted 37 Parliamentary questions about similar incidents since February 2012; however, these questions have been left unanswered by their addressees.

Kenanoğlu has asked Soylu the following questions:

'What do you do to prevent such attacks?'

* Upon the application of the citizen to the police department, has an investigation been launched into the incident where his house was marked with 'X' and a writing of 'Alevi go away Kurd'?

* Why are the police officers on duty at the İstanbul/ Esenyurt Kıraç police department questioning the social media posts of our aggrieved Alevi citizen while they should be inquiring about the incident itself?

* How does it fall within the scope of the crime of 'provoking the public to enmity and hatred' when a citizen announces an aggrievement that he or she went through on social media?

* Why did the police officers on duty at the police department make our aggrieved citizen delete his social media posts?

* Isn't it a spoliation of evidence that the pictures that have the characteristics of evidence are deleted?

* Why is the reason behind the failure to take any action about the 37 incidents that happened before the aforementioned incident and were reported in the press? Are there any cases whose perpetrators have been identified? If yes, what action has been taken against them?

* Why are the Parliamentary questions that we submit to the Ministry of Interior left unanswered?

* Will an effective investigation be carried out against the perpetrators of the attack before it leads to more serious problems next days?

* Has your Ministry prepared any reports regarding the attacks against Alevis in the form of marking their houses?

* Is there any work undertaken with regards to the measures to be taken by your Ministry to prevent such attacks? (RT/SD)