HDP’s Gergerlioğlu released from detention

* Photo: Deniz Nazlım / Twitter

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Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, the Kocaeli MP of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) who was stripped of his MP status, was taken into custody at the Parliament early in the morning today (March 21). 

Releasing a statement about the issue later in the day, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has announced that he has been released.

Speaking after his released, Gergerlioğlu has clarified why he has been released despite a final court ruling. Gergerlioğlu has said:

"I was taken into custody at 7 in the morning with tyranny, with fiction, with a lie, with a slur... I have just been released.

"Why? Because the detention was not due to the final ruling. They fabricated a crime to take me out of the Parliament. They tried to create a perception by sharing a video  previously acquitted at court."

Saying that what he went through while giving his statement was a "scandal", Gergerlioğlu has explained it as follows:

"They did not want the battery inflicted on me to be written in the minutes. They told me, 'File a complaint.' We argued about this for 6-7 hours. A person in plain clothes made them delete my statement."

Gergerlioğlu has also said that "the Parliamentary Speaker organized his detention," adding that Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli gave the instruction. "There is neither an administration in the country nor is there a Parliament," he has protested.

Gergerlioğlu has also said that they are on their way to the Newroz celebrations in the capital city of Ankara.

After his final ruling of conviction over a tweet was read out at the Plenary Session of the Parliament on March 17, Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was stripped of his MP status. Refusing to leave the Parliament, together with other HDP MPs, in protest, he started a "Justice Watch".

Early in the morning, Gergerlioğlu was detained by the police while going to the bathroom. He was not allowed to put on his clothes, he was in a tracksuit. He was not allowed to do his morning prayers, either.

Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu'nun üstünü giymesine bile izin vermeden yaka paça gözaltına almışlar. Şu görüntülerden utanın utanın. pic.twitter.com/YzWQXbOw3W

— Onur Öncü (@oencueonur) March 21, 2021

'Parliament's General Secretariat filed a complaint'

Releasing a written statement about the issue later in the day today, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has indicated that an investigation has been launched against Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu "as a result of the criminal complaint filed by the General Secretariat of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and additional documents as well as the information and documents obtained from the print and visual press."

Referring to his expulsion from the Parliament, the prosecutor's office has said that the investigation has been launched "as per the Articles 262/1 and 116/2-4 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and the Article 7/2 of the Law no. 3713 on the grounds that he had not left the Parliament building day and night as of March 17, 2021, acted as if he had been an MP despite being stripped of his MP status and the slogans of 'biji serok apo' ['Long live leader apo', referring to the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan] were chanted from the group of people including him who started to march, leaving the Parliamentary General Assembly Hall and going to the HDP party's floor on March 17, 2021."

According to the statement, Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was detained upon the instruction given by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to the Ankara Security Directorate. Gergerlioğlu has been released after giving his statement as part of the investigation, according to the office.

He referred to the 90s

Speaking during the detention, Gergerlioğlu said, "We saw these pictures in the 90s as well. Unfortunately, nothing has changed in this country since 1994. I am being detained on my way to the bathroom."

Speaking about the issue, HDP Ankara MP Filiz Kerestecioğlu underlined that Gergerlioğlu's detention was unacceptable.

Statement by the party

HDP has released the following statement about the issue:

"Our Kocaeli MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, who continued his Justice Watch in Parliament in Ankara, was detained this morning at 6:30 a.m.

"As he went to the bathroom to prepare for his morning prayers, around 100 police officers entered the HDP's hall in the parliament building, where Gergerlioğlu has carried out his protest watch for the last 5 days.

"Gergerlioğlu said to the police, 'Let me first perform my prayers and change my clothes, then we shall go', but the police insisted on detaining him, and took him away in his pajamas and slippers, despite the objection of our MPs Filiz Kerestecioğlu and Hüseyin Kaçmaz."

A new investigation against Gergerlioğlu

As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), hundreds of police officers came to the Parliament, Gergerlioğlu was forcibly taken out of the Parliament and taken into custody. The Agency has announced that Gergerlioğlu has been detained as part of a new investigation launched by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. The investigation has been reportedly launched into the "Justice Watch" of Gergerlioğlu at the Parliament since March 17.

The investigation file has cited "Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu's refusal to leave the Parliament, his continued acting like an MP, making statements and live broadcasts on social media and staying in a public building with the right to do so" as criminal evidence against the politician.

Before Gergerlioğlu was taken into custody on these charges, the police reportedly locked up the personnel in a room.

Nationalist party leader targeted him

Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu has recently been targeted by Devlet Bahçeli, the Chair of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which is in the Peoples' Alliance with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Bahçeli briefly said:

"If the Parliamentary Speaker's authority is restricted about this issue, it is possible to throw Gergerlioğlu, together with his mattress, by swiftly drafting a one-article legislative proposal and passing it at the General Assembly of the Parliament. This issue is urgent."

Why was he stripped of MP status?

HDP Kocaeli MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was sentenced to 2 years, 6 months in prison on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" on February 21, 2018 on the grounds of a social media post from 2016. This ruling given by the Kocaeli 2nd Heavy Penal Court has recently been upheld by the 16th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation.

Speaking shortly after this ruling was handed down, Gergerlioğlu said that the verdict was "political", adding, "Strip searches, abductions, tortures... Some people got disturbed by us talking about all these."

He also made an application to the Constitutional Court. However, the final ruling of the court was read out at the Plenary Session of the Parliament on March 17, 2021 and he was stripped of his MP duty. He did not leave the Parliament in protest, starting a justice watch. (EMK/SD)