From PACE to Turkey: Release detained opposition members immediately

* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency

Click to read the article in Turkish (1) (2) / Kurdish

Taken into custody as part of an investigation into the Kobani protests on October 6-8, 2014, 20 people from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) have been referred to court with a request for their arrest.

HDP politicians were detained on September 25 as part of an investigation by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. While they have been in detention since then, they were then taken to the prosecutor's office.

Using their right to remain silent at the security directorate, HDP Central Executive Committee member Alp Altınörs, HDP Foreign Relations Commission member Nazmi Gür, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) former Co-Chair and MP Emine Ayna, HDP former Central Executive Committee members Bircan Yorulmaz, Gülfer Akkaya, Berfin Özgü Köse, Dilek Yağlı, Günay Kubilay, Bülent Parmaksız, Pervin Oduncu, İsmail Şengün, HDP former General Bookkeeper Zeki Çelik, HDP's RTÜK member Ali Ürküt and former MP Prof. Dr. Emine Beyza Üstün were brought to the courthouse for their deposition at the prosecutor's office yesterday (October 1).

Having deposed at the security directorate, HDP's Kars Co-Mayor Ayhan Bilgen, HDP former Diyarbakır MP Altan Tan, former MP Ayla Akat Aka, HDP former MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder, HDP former Central Executive Committee member Can Memiş and Cihan Erdal alsa gave their statements at the prosecutor's office yesterday evening.

Statement by the PACE

On the other side, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Turkey Thomas Hammarberg (Sweden, SOC) and John Howell (United Kingdom, EC/DA) have released a statement about the recent detentions and said:

"We are greatly concerned by the detention warrants issued against 101 members of the HDP on 25 September and 1st October 2020, notably for their alleged responsibility in the 2014 'Kobane protests'."

Their statement is briefly as follows:

"Prominent party members and elected representatives, including the co-Mayors of Kars Ayhan Bilgen and Şevin Alaca, former PACE member Nazmi Gür and former deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder, were arrested on grounds that raise serious questions. These arrests come on top of the earlier convictions of former HDP co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ as part of this investigation. They also contradict the 2017 ruling of Turkey's Constitutional Court that found a violation of Ayhan Bilgen's rights following his previous detention in the same case.

'Release the elected representatives'

"The arrests of these political opponents and their continued detention will further 'diminish, obstruct or undermine the ability of opposition politicians to exercise their rights and fulfil their democratic roles, both inside and outside parliament, and could render opposition parties inoperative', as already stated by the Parliamentary Assembly in a January 2019 resolution.

"Likewise, the request made by the Prosecutor's Office to lift the immunity of seven HDP deputies for the functions they assumed on the Central Executive Board of their party at the time of the protests is of great concern.

"Political opposition is an essential component of a well-functioning and vivid democracy. We therefore call on the Turkish authorities to immediately release the detained political elected representatives and party members, to protect and respect parliamentary immunity, to fully implement the European Court of Human Rights' rulings and to release former HDP co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş." (RT/SD)