Imprisoned ex-chairperson of HDP attends her brother's funeral

HDP's former Co-Chairperson Figen Yüksekdağ, who is detained at Kandıra Type F Prison No. 1, attended the funeral of her deceased brother, Necmi Yüksekdağ.

The imprisoned politician was accompanied by gendarmes as she was transported by plane first to Adana and then to her family home in the Ceyhan district.

Many attended the condolence gathering set up in front of the family home, including Tülay Hatimoğulları, Co-Chair of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP), HDP members of parliament Pervin Buldan, Ali Bozan, and Adalet Kaya, as well as Özlem Gümüştaş and Şahin Tümüklü, Co-Chairs of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP).

Mezopotamya Agency reported that the body of Necmi Yüksekdağ was brought to the front of the family home to receive final blessings, and Figen Yüksekdağ also accepted condolences. Later, the funeral procession, accompanied by a convoy, transported the body to the Gökova Cemetery in the Yumurtalık district for burial.

Yüksekdağ, on the other hand, was brought to the cemetery in a prison vehicle. After the religious duties were fulfilled, Necmi Yüksekdağ's body was laid to rest.

Following the funeral ceremony, Yüksekdağ was taken on the road to Adana Şakirpaşa Airport to be transported back to prison by air.

Figen Yüksekdağ

Figen Yüksekdağ was elected the co-leader of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) together with Selahattin Demirtaş in June 2014.

She was a co-founder of the the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) and she resigned as leader in 2014 to join the HDP, with which the ESP merged later the same year

She was elected as an MP on the 7 June 2015, and re-elected on 1 November 2015.

She was stripped of the parliamentary immunity in May 2016 and arrested on the 3 November 2016 for allegedly not cooperating in “terror”-related investigations. On 21 February 2017 the parliament revoked her parliamentary membership. On 11 April 2017 she was sentenced to 1 year in prison for “terror propaganda.” On the 17 March 2021, the Turkish state prosecutor before the Court of Cassation, Bekir Şahin, filed a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court demanding for Yüksekdağ and 686 other HDP politicians a five-year ban to engage in politics. The lawsuit was filed jointly with a request of a closure of the HDP due to the parties alleged organizational links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

(NT/PE)