'HDP is a legitimate political party, Selahattin Demirtaş should be released'

* Photo: TV5

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Felicity Party (SP) Chair Temel Karamollaoğlu gave an interview to Pınar Işık Ardor on TV 100 yesterday (October 24).

Karamollaoğlu said that Selahattin Demirtaş, the former Co-Chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), and businessperson and rights defender Osman Kavala are unlawfully held behind bars.

Expressing his party's demand for a transition from the current Presidential system to a reinforced parliamentary system in line with several other opposition parties in Turkey, Karamollaoğlu said:

"We are not totally against the Presidential system; we are against the current Presidential system, which cannot be controlled."

Turkey, governed by a Parliamentary system for decades after the Republic had been founded, adopted the Presidential Government System following the referendum on April 16, 2017. The country has been governed in a Presidential system since July 9, 2018, when President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took office as the President again following the Presidential elections on June 24, 2018.

'Demirtaş cannot be held behind bars'

During the interview, Karamollaoğlu also answered a question about the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which is currently facing a closure case filed by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation before the Constitutional Court, as well as its former Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, who has not been released despite the rulings of rights violation and immediate release of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

To the question, "How do you see the HDP," he answered, "The HDP is legitimate; it is in the Parliament, it has Members of Parliament. They are facing a lawsuit, the party may be closed. It is a legitimate political party until it is closed. Would we form an alliance? This is something totally different. In the current situation, we are of the opinion that this alliance is not easy."

SP's Temel Karamollaoğlu added: "Selahattin Demirtaş ran for President at the elections, he was in jail, arrested. But the [state channel] TRT went to him and broadcast his speech because the law orders it as such.

"But it is said, 'I will keep you in prison.' This is too contradictory; you cannot govern the country amid such contradictions. You cannot keep a person behind bars if his or her crime is not confirmed by the judge.

"Selahattin Demirtaş should be released. There cannot be such a democracy, such a rule of law. You arrest and jail a person. He is acquitted; the moment he is to be released, you file a new lawsuit and arrest him because of this. The law cannot be played with like this, no one is a fool. Is such a thing possible?

"Would that be law in this case? Mr. Erdoğan should think of his own past. He was banned from doing politics because he had read a poem.

"That was a murder of the law. Now, when someone else reads it, he says, 'No, I read it with good intentions, I will bust you up.'

Would that be called justice? I may not approve of a person or party due to their acts, attitudes or policies; but I would not antagonize them by adding some things on top of this.

'ECtHR judgements should be abided by'

Temel Karamollaoğlu, leading the party mostly supported by conservative Muslims in Turkey, briefly added:

"I cannot attribute an act that he did not do or a word that he did not say to him. Turkey's problem is now this. Mr. Erdoğan ignores it even if he sees it. Until recently, with the whole world behind him, as he was himself subjected to unlawfulness, he came to Turkey and entered politics.

"I say the same thing for Osman Kavala as well. Turkey should abide by the ECtHR judgement. Mr. Erdoğan introduced this himself." (RT/SD)