Every single HDP deputy in Turkish parliament subject to probes

Duvar English

An overwhelming majority of criminal investigations launched in parliament were targeted at deputies of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), with none of the 56 lawmakers being without a record, the daily Milliyet reported. 

Some 914 of the 1,228 investigations launched in parliament were concerning HDP lawmakers, while the party also ranked first in the number of deputies whose legal immunity, a privilege afforded to all deputies in Turkey, hangs in the balance in parliament’s Justice Commission.

The Justice Commission reportedly has 1,228 cases of legal immunity annulation against 175 deputies pending, among which the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has the second most members following the HDP, with some 227 files into 95 CHP deputies.

At the top of that list, former HDP co-chair Sezai Temelli has the most investigations into him with a shocking 60 files.

Investigations into critics of the government in Turkey are a common practice of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), as the judiciary has proven itself to be aligned with Ankara’s wishes time and time again.

Kurdish politics, as well as Kurdish culture and language, has also been widely criminalized by the AKP since the collapse of the peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 2015.

The AKP has also appointed trustee officials to almost every local office won by the HDP in the local elections of March 2019.

Meanwhile, former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has been incarcerated since November 2016 as the Turkish judiciary generated new accusations to ensure his continued imprisonment when he was acquitted by the Turkish Constitutional Court, and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that his rights were violated by the length of his imprisonment.