ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A former lawmaker of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) long accused of having ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was sentenced to over 11 years in prison on Monday for allegedly making propaganda for the group.
Leyla Guven, a former outspoken HDP parliamentarian, was sentenced to 11 years and 7 months in prison after being tried by a court in the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir (Amed) for her suspected ties to the PKK, Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu Agency reported.
The HDP condemned her sentencing and labeled it as the “latest step” of a “revenge campaign” by President Recep Tayyip Erodogan’s ruling Justice and Development (AKP) party.
Sentences of 11 years & 7 months to our MP Leyla Güven and 2 years & 6 months to our former co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş are merely the latest steps of the AKP-MHP alliance's revenge campaign. We will show no submission to their oppressive policies: Neither in the past, nor ever. pic.twitter.com/N7tUUoEEO5
— HDP English (@HDPenglish) October 17, 2022
Guven, who was a representative for Hakkari province, was sentenced to six years and three months in September 2020, after being accused of affiliating with the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella group of a number of parties, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The court’s decision came after the politician already served time in prison, which she says was for the KCK case, the proceedings of which began in 2009.
The PKK is a Kurdish armed group fighting for the increased political and cultural rights of Kurds in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization by Ankara, who has launched repeated operations both domestic and southward across the border to target the group.
Turkish officials claim that the HDP is the political arm of the PKK but the pro-Kurdish party has repeatedly denied the claims.
Thousands of HDP members have been arrested in recent years for terror-related charges, including former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, as well as dozens of mayors.
Turkey in early October launched a fresh air and ground military operation seeking to remove PKK forces from rural areas of the country.
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