22 February 2021
HDP under even more political pressure
There has been a severe increase in political pressure against the HDP, including cases of
torture. This comes despite the ECtHR’s ruling on the release of Mr. Selahattin
Demirtaş,
with its expectation of immediate implementation by the government, and discussion of new
reforms in Turkey. A detention warrant has been issued against more than 700 people, and we
now face severe anti-democratic practices against our deputies and co-mayors. The following
three examples illustrate the pressure we are under.
Strip-search and beating of former co-mayor, leaving her too incapacitated to plead in
court
The HDP’s former co-mayor of Hakkari, Ms.
Dilek Hatipoğlu,
was sentenced to 16 years and
3 months in prison on 25 March 2016, and her sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court. On
12 February, Ms. Hatipoğlu
was
transferred from Sincan Prison to Van T-Type Prison, where
she underwent strip-search torture. The guards told her to undress at the entrance of the
prison. When she refused to undress, she was severely beaten by three guards at a spot hidden
from cameras, all her clothes were removed, and she was subjected to a strip -search. On 1 9
February, she was taken to court for the hearing of another legal case against her. She had a
visible black eye and was unable to plead due to the impacts on her health of the battering she
had received.
Summaries of proceedings to lift parliamentary immunity prepared against a further
nine HDP deputies, including HDP co-chair, Ms Pervin Buldan
On 19 February, Turkish prosecutors announced that they have prepared summaries of
proceedings against nine HDP deputies, including co-chair Ms. Pervin Buldan, over the
Kobane investigation, and have submitted them to the Justice Ministry. On 2 October 2020,
17 HDP politicians had been arrested on the grounds of their role in the Kobane protests.
Jailed former Co-chairs Mr. Selahattin
Demirtaş and Ms. Figen Yüksekdağ are also being
tried in Kobane case. In 2014 the HDP called on people to protest in support of Kobani, which
was under attack by ISIS. The protests were opposed by the state security forces and elements
sympathetic to ISIS, and 43 people died, almost all supporters of HDP. For calling people to
protest, HDP members are being accused of terrorism, and also of murder of those who died.
These were the charges made against Selahattin Demirtaș that the ECtHR judged not to be a
convincing case. The deputies under attack now are Garo Paylan, Huda Kaya, Sezai Temelli,
Pero Dundar, Fatma Kurtulan, Serpil Kemalbay, deputy chairpersons of the HDP’s
parliamentary group: Meral Danis Bestas and Hakkı Saruhan Oluç, and co-chair Pervin
Buldan. Since the general elections in 2018, more than 800 summaries of proceedings have
been brought to the Turkish Parliament for HDP deputies.
Court of Cassation approves HDP deputy’s 2-year prison sentence for a social media
post, opening the way for him to be barred from parliamentary membership
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Contact:
Web:
www.hdp.org.tr
Address:
Barbaros Mah.
Tahra Cad. Büklü Sok. No:
Ça kaya,
Ankara - Turkey
Phone:
+90 312 427 17 80
Fax:
+90 312 4288957