HDP deputies stage sit-in protest in front of Constitutional Court

ANKARA

Kurdish issue-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies held a sit-in protest in front of the Constitutional Court on June 16 after their request for an appointment in which they aimed to convey their demand to obtain a ruling on the party’s arrested lawmakers was rejected. 

In a statement, HDP deputy Ahmet Yıldırım recalled that more than a dozen lawmakers have been in prison since Nov. 4, 2016. 

“We want the court to comply with its laws,” he said. 

Yıldırım stated that they were hoping for a verdict from the court that would serve “annihilating a coup staged by the law and judiciary,” calling on the Constitutional Court to “not be a part of a coup against the people’s will and democratic politics.” 

He also said journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, who are being charged for “revealing state secrets” following a story alleging that Turkey was smuggling weapons to Syria, were released after 92 days of being in jail, adding that the Constitutional Court’s ruling was appropriate and should be exemplary. 

“The court, which acted fairly to the two journalists, is remaining silent over the arrest of HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, former co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ and 11 lawmakers of the political party who were elected by the votes of 6 million people of the country, he stated.  

Yıldırım said they will continue to protest in different ways in the upcoming days. 

A total of 13 HDP politicians were arrested in November 2016 on terrorism-related charges after their parliamentary immunity was lifted in May 2016.