HDP Vice-Chair: EU Aware of Unlawfulness in Turkey but Silent Due to Refugee Crisis

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Vice-Chair Responsible for Foreign Relations Hişyar Özsoy and Siirt MP Meral Danış Beştaş were in Washington last week upon the joint invitation of the US Congress Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and the International Parliaments Union (IPU).

Speaking to bianet, Özsoy said that many issues were discussed, especially with the verdict of arrest for Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, the former co-chairs of the HDP.

"They do not want to go against Turkey"

Özsoy said they made a presentation in a panel where the situations of MPs under pressure worldwide were discussed.

"The main agenda of our talks in the US Congress was the situation of our former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ and our detained MPs. We briefed the congress about this," said Özsoy.

"Europe and the US have a lot of interest in everything that happens in Turkey. They are aware of the arbitrary practices in Turkey that are our of the criteria of democracy, law and human rights.

"They are convinced that Turkey violates both its own law and the international conventions that it is a party to. Everyone expresses their reactions in our talks. But when it comes to taking a step, they don't want to go against Turkey much, because of the problem of the refugee crisis. Tayyip Erdoğan is constantly threatening like, "I will open the doors, send refugees."

IPU: Lawmakers detained for political motives

Gabri Gabriela Cuevas Barron, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), also attended the presentation at the congress. He also visited Turkey in June and carried out investigations on the situation of the arrested MPs. They prepared a 12-page report on it, and the report found that the arrest of lawmakers was purely political.

"IPU sessions will take place in Belgrade on October 13-17, and a decision will be made about the report in these sessions. We suggested in the meetings that they could take a role regarding the detained MPs. We stated that a joint delegation from the US Senate and the House of Representatives could visit Turkey and can make observations on-site about matters such as democracy, law, human rights and the Kurdish question. The Helsinki Commission of the US Congress also continues to work on having a special session on Turkey at the end of this year.

"There is no support for Turkey's rhetoric"

"In our meetings, everyone thinks that a dictatorial regime is established in Turkey. They are not surprised by anything that happened in Turkey. There is a general opinion: 'There is no law in Turkey, so it can't deviate from the law."

"Many violations of human rights have been experienced in Turkey in the last three years. All of these have made relations with the Council of Europe and the European Union difficult. In the discussions, there is not a single person who supports Turkey's official discourse apart from the Azerbaijani delegation and Turkey's delegation.

Özsoy indicated that European institutions show "a lot of interest" in the issue of trustees "on a high level." Three mayors from the HDP were replaced with government-appointed trustees in August. "On September 19, during the sessions of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the appointment of trustees was on special agenda. They passed a lengthy draft resolution.

"In addition, the Council of Europe Congress of Local Authorities sent a monitoring delegation to Turkey. The delegation will hold talks with the dismissed mayors in both Ankara and Diyarbakır. Then they will prepare their own reports. At the end of October, they will share their observations at the sessions of the Council of Europe Congress of Local Regional Authorities.

Trustees to be discussed at General Assembly

Özsoy, who is currently attending the sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, added the following: "We will have meetings with the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe on the decision to re-arrest co-chairs and the trustees.

"The situation of municipalities in Turkey will be discussed in the session to be held in late October. We expect a delegation from the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities to visit Turkey once more in November. There will be intense initiatives from the Local Governments Congress. Again in January, we will have a much wider debate in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. We can create a separate agenda item." (RT/VK)