Summary of proceedings launched against HDP lawmaker Uca for saying 'Kurdistan'

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A summary of proceedings has been launched against pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP Feleknas Uca for saying “Kurdistan,” according to reporting by Mezopotamya news agency.

Uca, a lawmaker for the southeastern province of Batman, reportedly mentioned the word “Kurdistan” while at an event in the western province of Aydın on July 12, 2020.

“We wanted to reach our mothers, sisters, and comrades in the Aegean, Marmara, Kurdistan, all cities of Kurdistan and Turkey,” she reportedly had said at the event.

Uca is accused of provoking hatred and animosity among people in the summary of proceedings.

The summary of proceedings said Kurdistan was the name used by jailed outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan to refer to the regions where “Kurdish-origin citizens” live.

The HDP, Turkey’s third-largest party, has been accused of acting together with the PKK and aiming to break the unity of the Turkish state.

Last year, an indictment was prepared to ban the party, with the Constitutional Court accepting it in June.

The indictment came after calls made by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) to permanently shut the HDP down. It follows years of a crackdown on the HDP, in which thousands of its members have been tried on terror-related charges.

Turkey has in the past shut down political parties, including several pro-Kurdish ones.