HDP lawmaker expelled from Turkish parliament for tweet

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Omer Gergerlioglu, an outspoken lawmaker for Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was stripped of his parliamentary membership on Wednesday for a tweet he made in 2016. He has been sentenced to two and a half years for terror-related charges. The HDP bloc held a sit-in at the legislature to protest the decision.

“The revocation of my parliament membership is a totally political decision. It has nothing to do with rights or the law,” Gergerlioglu told Rudaw English, adding that the move is related to his human rights advocacy work.

Gergerlioglu, who is also a human rights activist, was sentenced to two years and a half on February 21, 2018 for a tweet he posted in 2016 in which he shared a news article that included a statement from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) saying, “peace would come if the government takes one step forward.”

He shared the article with a comment: “This call should be evaluated properly. There is no end to this work,” referring to the decades-long conflict between Ankara and the PKK. He was accused by the court of making propaganda for the PKK. Nearly half a year after the court decision, Gergerlioglu was elected to parliament on the HDP’s ticket.

A top Turkish court upheld the verdict last month, sending it to parliament to expel Gergerlioglu from the legislature. As expected, the parliament announced his expulsion on Wednesday, angering the politician and his party.

Ankara considers the PKK a terrorist organization.

Gergerlioglu, 56, was the first person to publicize Turkey’s alleged strip searching of prisoners and members of their families visiting them in jail. Rights groups hailed his revelations, but he was handed harsh criticism from pro-government corners.

“I was punished for my human rights activities. The tweet I posted was totally related to peace and did not support violence,” the expelled MP told Rudaw English on Wednesday.

“I have reached here with 90,000 votes,” he is seen in a video shouting in parliament’s chambers after the decision, refusing to leave the chambers. “I am a lawmaker of my party and will not leave here.”

Other HDP lawmakers have decided to stand with the politician, holding a sit-in at parliament.

“Gergerlioglu and our party will continue the decisive struggle against the authoritarian policies of the [Justice and Development Party] AKP government. We are not going anywhere!” tweeted the HDP.

Mithat Sancar, co-chair of the HDP, told reporters that the decision to expel Gergerlioglu is “a new step of the coup against democracy.”

“There is no law, no constitution but the resisting people have lawmakers. No one should doubt that we will continue to stand strong against these attacks.”

Nacho Sánchez Amor and Sergey Lagodinsky, leading members of European Parliament condemned the decision, saying Gergerlioglu’s "conviction, expulsion and expected incarceration because of a social media post constitute a severe violation of his human rights and another serious step that further undermines the trust in Turkey‘s parliamentary democracy."

Nikolaj Villumsen, another member of European Parliament, also criticized the decision in a tweet, calling on Ankara to “stop the oppression against the democratic opposition in Turkey.”

“Elected parliamentarians should not be put into jail,” he added.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday called on Ankara to not expel Gergerlioglu from parliament.

“Any move to strip Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu of his parliamentary seat as a prelude to jailing him would look like a reprisal by the Erdogan government for his brave and vocal stance in support of thousands of victims of human rights violations,” Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at HRW said on Tuesday, prior to the politician being stripped of his parliamentary membership.

“Gergerlioglu’s conviction is a blatant violation of his right to free speech and using it as a pretext to expel him from parliament would show deep disdain for democratic norms and the right to political association,” he added.

Scores of HDP supporters, members and officials - including former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag - have been jailed for years for terror-related charges.

Shortly after Gergerlioglu was stripped of his parliamentary membership, Bekir Sahin, the chief prosecutor at Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals, filed an indictment at the Constitutional Court, demanding the closure of the HDP, reported state-owned Anadolu Agency.

Summaries of proceedings have been prepared against almost all other 55 HDP lawmakers, mostly for their alleged links to the PKK. This includes both co-chairs Sancar and Pervin Buldan.

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