HDP to apply to Euro court if all legal avenues exhausted in Turkey

ISTANBUL

DHA photo

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) will apply to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) if all legal avenues are exhausted in Turkey regarding their arrested deputies.

The Kurdish issue-focused party appealed for the release of 10 of its lawmakers arrested on “terror” charges on Nov. 4, including its co-chairs, to courts in four provinces, and will apply to the Turkish Constitutional Court if rejected.  

The party has appealed against the lawmakers’ arrests, judicial control orders, and bans on leaving the country, Doğan News Agency reported. 

“If our appeals are rejected, the following process will continue in two ways. We will apply to the Constitutional Court with the demand that our appeal is given priority and provisional injunction. If rejected, we will apply to the ECHR with the same demands,” the HDP’s lawyer Reyhan Yalçındağ Baydemir said, adding that they are expecting the result of the application in the coming days. 

HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ and 10 other lawmakers were detained on Nov. 4. Demirtaş, Yüksekdağ, İdris Baluken, Leyla Birlik, Selma Irmak, Nursel Aydoğan, Abdullah Zeydani, Gülser Yıldırım, Nihat Akdoğan and Ferhat Encü were arrested while Ziya Pir, Sırrı Süreya Önder and İmam Taşçıer were released subject to judicial control with a ban on leaving the country.