ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Co-chair of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), Figen Yüksekdağ, said that she will refuse to answer any summons to court to face charges of supporting terrorism because there is no fair or impartial judicial mechanism in Turkey.
“Public confidence in the judiciary is at an all-time low. In this situation, there is no judicial mechanism that we can go to seek justice,” she wrote, noting that “every member of the high judiciary has pledged their loyalty to Erdoğan,” president of Turkey.
“Therefore, we are doing what is legitimate and right: we refuse to go to the prosecutors and the courts.”
Yüksekdağ and 58 other HDP MPs, including her co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, face charges on supporting terrorism tied to accusations from Ankara that they support the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).
The charges against Yüksekdağ stem from a speech she made in 2015 in which she expressed support for the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the PYD and their fight against the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS).
She concluded her speech by saying, “Let’s join together with Syrian Kurds in a historical alliance and make Turkey a safe, secure, strong and the democratic center of gravity in the region.”
The Turkish parliament voted in May to lift immunity from a select group of lawmakers, including many HDP MPs, accused of terrorism-related offenses.
“The government had already amassed their cohorts in judiciary posts and a purge of the high judiciary was concluded well before the July 15 coup attempt. After that, thousands of judges and prosecutors have been discharged and arrested,” Yüksekdağ wrote in an editorial for Newsweek on Thursday.
“Public confidence in the judiciary is at an all-time low. In this situation, there is no judicial mechanism that we can go to seek justice,” she wrote, noting that “every member of the high judiciary has pledged their loyalty to Erdoğan,” president of Turkey.
“Therefore, we are doing what is legitimate and right: we refuse to go to the prosecutors and the courts.”
Yüksekdağ and 58 other HDP MPs, including her co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, face charges on supporting terrorism tied to accusations from Ankara that they support the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).
The charges against Yüksekdağ stem from a speech she made in 2015 in which she expressed support for the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the PYD and their fight against the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS).
She concluded her speech by saying, “Let’s join together with Syrian Kurds in a historical alliance and make Turkey a safe, secure, strong and the democratic center of gravity in the region.”
The Turkish parliament voted in May to lift immunity from a select group of lawmakers, including many HDP MPs, accused of terrorism-related offenses.
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