Opposition HDP deputy Özkan arrested by court in Turkey’s Muş

MUŞ

A deputy from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) was arrested on charges of “being a member of a terrorist organizations” on April 19 in the eastern Anatolian province of Muş, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Burcu Çelik Özkan, a HDP deputy for the province, was detained by police during a routine traffic stop on April 19. 

Following a medical examination, she was arrested on charges of being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and transferred to the E-type closed prison in Muş.

The HDP focuses on the Kurdish issue.

According to the indictment, she was charged due to a speech in Muş before the June 7, 2015, elections that allegedly targeted village guards.

“You will get out of this country. We know well how to turn a Kalashnikov on your after your targeted us,” she said, according to the indictment.  

A total of 13 lawmakers from the HDP, including its co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, face hundreds of years in jail for alleged links to the PKK.

With the latest arrest order of Özkan, the number of jailed HDP deputies has risen to 14. 

On April 11, A Turkish court sentenced Yüksekdağ to one year in jail on accusations of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization,” state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The 22nd Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes passed the sentence after ruling out any reduction in sentencing for good behavior on the part of Yüksekdağ, who was arrested by Turkish authorities in November 2016.