HDP deputy chair arrested on terror charges

TOKAT

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The deputy chair of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) was arrested on terror charges in the northern province of Tokat early on Sept. 16. HDP deputy chair Alp Altınörs was sent to Tokat Courthouse and arrested over allegations of being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Eight people were detained in Tokat as a part of the probe launched by the Tokat Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and sent to court over suspected links to the PKK. Six of them, including Altınörs, were arrested. Two others were released on condition of judicial control. 

“This is a conspiracy against our party on behalf of me and we will foil it,” Altınörs shouted as he was brought to the courthouse. 

The arrest of Altınörs was met with fury from the HDP, with the co-chair of the party praising his deputy.
“Alp Altınörs is a revolutionary with his head held high,” wrote party co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş on his Twitter account, as he added that Altınörs was the “pride of the party.”

 “He is not a thief, not a despicable person, not an enemy of the people and not a killer. He is the pride of our party,” Demirtaş wrote. 

Another statement regarding Altınörs’ arrest was released from the party, saying the arrest was “unlawful.”
“We will continue our struggle nonstop until the ones engaging in politics despite the will of the people and the ones using the authorities they get from the people unlawfully are tried,” the statement released on Sept. 16 read, adding that the arrest was “a blow to democratic politics.”