Prosecutors seek arrest of HDP co-chairs

DİYARBAKIR

The co-chairs of Turkey’s Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, as well as HDP lawmakers Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Gülser Yıldırım, have been sent to a courthouse in the southeastern province on Diyarbakir, with demands for their arrest following their detention. 

In his testimony, Demirtaş said he would not answer the questions regarding the charges posed against him and that he was only going to give a short statement, adding that he did not want to be “an extra in a judicial theatrical play.”

Yüksekdağ, meanwhile, was reportedly brought from Ankara to Diyarbakır as part of the warrant issued against her. 

Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ were among 14 HDP deputies whose detentions were sought as part of terror probes launched in the eastern and southeastern provinces Diyarbakır, Şırnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingöl. Twelve deputies were detained in raids that came early on Nov. 4, while two others, Faysal Sarıyıldız and Tuğba Hezer Öztürk, were not detained as they are currently abroad. 

One of the 14 deputies, Ziya Pir, was released on probation following his initial prosecutor’s testimony.