KOBANI INVESTIGATION
Detained HDP politicians start 'food boycott' due to 'maltreatment'
Photo: MA
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Detained Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) politicians have started a "food boycott" due to bad food at the Ankara Security Directorate, where they have been held since Friday (September 25) as part of an investigation into violent incidents that took place in the Kurdish-majority regions in 2014.
Holding a press meeting in front of the directorate today (September 29), HDP deputies stated that the politicians were subjected to maltreatment in detention, Mesopotamia Agency (MA) reported.
On Friday, detention warrants were issued for 82 people, who allegedly orchestrated the 2014 "Kobani protests." The detention period for 20 members of the HDP's central executive committee was extended by four days yesterday.
Several opposition parties and rights groups have criticized the government over the mass detention, which they say was "politically motivated."
CLICK - Detained politicians have food poisoning
"Our friends are subjected to an 'enemy law' in nutrition and living standards. There is even torture and maltreatment," HDP Batman deputy Necdet İpekyüz said.
"There is an unlawful and political decision. Our friends have been held in detention for four days without knowing why they are detained. However, a perception management operation is carried out through the media. There are problems in even meetings with lawyers. There are problems in nutrition," he added.
HDP Antalya deputy Kemal Bülbül said the extension of the detention period was unlawful. "Both the political and judicial institutions that gave this decision have committed a crime," he said, adding that the detentions were turned into torture.
HDP Parliamentary Administrative Manager and Antep deputy said, "Our friends had poisoning yesterday, we learned it by chance. Our friends were taken to the hospital after our attempts. They were brought back before their treatments were completed. They are doing a food boycott in order to make their demands met. They are playing with fire. They are risking the future of the country."
"Our friend Sırrı Süreyya [Önder, former HDP deputy], who is kept inside now, was in contact with Efkan Ala [Minister of Interior at the time of the protests] and they were working together to stop the incidents. We don't accept this treatment against our friends. Twenty people are in custody, attorneys are let inside one by one. This situation has turned into torture," he added.
Addressing the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, which conducts the investigation, Toğrul said, "You paid it off, give up this torture. This is not a situation that will be accepted by us and the sensitive public. If it continues like this, our reactions will grow."
What happened?As part of an investigation conducted by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into the Kobani incidents on October 6-8, 2014, detention warrants were issued against 82 members of the HDP, including 24 former Central Executive Committee members, on September 26. Following these orders for detention, Ayhan Bilgen, Alp Altınörs, Nazmi Gür, Altan Tan, Ayla Akat Aka, Emine Ayna, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Bircan Yorulmaz, Gülfer Akkaya, Berfin Özgü Köse, Dilek Yağlı, Can Memiş, Günay Kubilay, Bülent Barmaksız, Zeki Çelik, Pervin Oduncu, İsmail Şengün, Ali Ürküt, Cihan Erdal, Emine Beyza Üstün were taken into custody. On the day of the operation, the detainees were taken from other provinces to the Ankara Security Directorate in the capital city. While they were restricted from meeting their attorneys for 24 hours, the HDP politicians started to meet their attorneys as of September 27. While the names of Arife Köse, Yurdusev Özsekmenler, Bayram Yılmaz, Zeynep Karaman were also in the 24-person detention list, they could not be detained as they could not be found in their residences. The Kobani protestsBefore the protests held to support Kobani in northern Syria in 2014, those who were waiting in the district of Suruç, Urfa in southeastern Turkey and wanted to cross the border were intervened with pepper gas and rubber bullets. In the meantime, some pictures allegedly showing ISIS militia crossing the border of Turkey were published. President and ruling AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made statements indicating that they equated PKK with ISIS. While the wounded coming from Kobani were kept waiting on the border, the wounded from ISIS were treated at hospitals. Several news reports were reported in the press, saying "Kobani fell." These news reports were denied every time. According to a report by the Human Rights Association (İHD), 46 people died, 682 people were wounded and 323 people were arrested in the protests held between October 6 and 8, 2014. As reported by the AA, 31 people lost their lives, 221 citizens and 139 police officers were wounded. Conducted by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Yüksel Kocaman, the investigation started a year ago. First, the depositions of former jailed HDP Co-Chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş were interrogated as part of this investigation. Released in the trial where he had been arrested pending trial, Demirtaş faced another ruling of arrest as part of this "Kobani investigation" on the same day. |
(TP/VK)