Prosecutor’s Office Mistranslates HDP’s Election Slogan, Lawsuit Filed Against 2 People

* Photograph: Evrensel newspaper

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

A lawsuit has been filed against Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Cizre District Co-Chair Güler Tunç and attorney Gülşen Elçi due to the slogans written on the election banners of the party in Şırnak.

The lawsuit has been filed by the Prosecutor's Office, which mistranslated the slogan "Freedom starts with governing oneself" written on the banners as "Freedom starts with autonomy. Freedom starts with self-government."

Before the March 31 Local Elections, the HDP chose the sentence "Azadî bi xwerêveberinê dest pê dike" (Freedom starts with governing oneself) as its election slogan. Putting the sentence on its election banners, the HDP hung the banners in Turkish and Kurdish in several districts and cities.

Banners were removed in electoral period

In the pre-election period, Prosecutor's Offices in Turkey's eastern and southeastern provinces of Ağrı, Bitlis, Şırnak and Siirt also misinterpreted the slogan and demanded that the banners be removed from billboards. Accordingly, law enforcement officers removed the banners.

After the banners were taken down, HDP Cizre District Co-Chair Güler Tunç and attorney Gülşen Elçi, the authorized person of the party to raise objections at the District Election Council, were summoned to depose.

As part of the investigation conducted by the Cizre Public Prosecutor's Office, an indictment has been filed against Tunç and Elçi on charge of "praising the crime and criminal." The indictment has been accepted by the Cizre 2nd Penal Court of Peace. The next hearing will be held on June 13. (HA/SD)