HDP says MP Semra Güzel’s arrest a ‘plot’ against party, vows to continue defying rulership

Duvar English

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has slammed the arrest of deputy Semra Güzel, saying that the party was facing a new “plot” by the rulership.

The HDP released a statement in front of the Istanbul Provincial Office on Sept. 4, with the attendance of HDP Women’s Council members, lawmakers Ali Kenanoğu, Garo Paylan and Musar Piroğlu, Istanbul co-chairs İlknur Birol and Ferhat Encü, as well as many other party members.

They protested the inhumane treatment that Güzel was exposed to while being detained as a video has shown the police pulling the deputy’s hair and bending her head.

“We are protesting the detention and subsequent arrest of our Diyarbakır lawmaker Semra Güzel in an unlawful way, through an explicit plot,” said the party’s Istanbul co-chair İlknur Birol.

“This is not the first time that we come across attacks against the HDP. This is not the first time that we come across attacks against our women deputies and other deputies…The HDP has not paid homage to you (rulership) and will not do so,” said Birol.

“We are calling on everyone who take responsibility for this country’s future, including those who put their candidacy to run the future. The HDP is not a political actor that you can destroy with a couple of slaps, scenarios and plots.”

A court on Sept. 3. ordered the pre-trial jailing of Güzel on a terrorism charge. Veysi Eski, a lawyer for Güzel, said the charge against the deputy was unfounded and called it a continuation of what he said were “political genocide operations” against the HDP.

Güzel had her parliamentary immunity lifted in March after photos of her from several years ago with a militant from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) circulated on Turkish media. An arrest warrant was subsequently issued on a charge of membership of a terrorist organization.

When the photos first surfaced in January, Güzel said the person was her fiance and the photos were taken when she visited him during a peace process between the Turkish state and the PKK that broke down in 2015.

Guzel said the investigation against her, based on material found after the militant was killed in 2017, was not launched until she became a member of parliament a year later.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (PKK) and its nationalist allies frequently accuse the HDP of being the PKK’s political wing. Thousands of HDP members have been tried in recent years over similar accusations. The party denies any links to terrorism.

(English version by Didem Atakan)