Second arrest warrant in a week issued for jailed HDP ex-leader

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A court in the Turkish capital of Ankara ruled Friday in favour of continuing to detain former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for terror-related charges and anti-government activity, a week after another arrest warrant for her was issued by the province’s public prosecutor.

Ankara’s 16th Heavy Penalty Court tried Figen Yuksekdag on charges including leading a “terror organization” and ”illegal” anti-government protests, and “inciting hatred and animosity,” reported Turkish opposition newspaper Cumhurriyet on Friday.

“Two [more] arrest warrants will not affect us. It is a shame that they have not understood this so far,” the HDP co-chair said to the judges during her defense.

Yuksekdag, 48, was jailed in November 2016 along with party co-chair Selahattin Demirtas and at least 10 HDP lawmakers for allegedly inciting terrorism following a government crackdown on dissidents in the wake of a failed military July 2016 coup by Fethullah Gulen, former ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. She quickly and strongly condemned the coup at the time.

A top Ankara court released new warrants for both former HDP co-chairs on September 20, despite a call by the European Court of Human Rights to release Demirtas.

“I and Ms Figen have already been on trial for three years over 6-7 October incident. This morning, Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office issued arrest warrants for me and Ms Figen in a separate investigation on the same charges in violation of law, issuing our arrest warrants,” Demirtas said in a rare tweet on September 20.

The verdict followed the adoption of a resolution on September 18 by the European Parliament which “condemns the continued arrest” of Demirtas and calls on Turkish authorities to allow his “immediate and unconditional release.”

Head of the hearing Sabahattin Saridogan refused to take evidence from expert witnesses, Cumhurriyet reported.

Thousands of HDP members have been put behind bars since 2016, a move condemned by human rights watchdogs but this has not decreased arrests.

Most charges are related to membership or assistance of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group struggling for Kurdish political and cultural rights in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority provinces.

Turkish officials have claimed the HDP is the political wing of the PKK, a claim denied by the party. However, the HDP has expressed sympathy and some alignment with the ideology of PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, who has been in jail since 1999.

HDP mayors in three Kurdish-majority cities were removed from their positions in August of this year for allegedly using local government budget to assist the PKK, claims dismissed by the mayors as being part of a smear campaign against the party.