HDP deputy Gergerlioğlu to resist in parliament when stripped of MP status

Duvar English 

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu has said that he will be in parliament when the decision to strip his status as a member of parliament is read. 

Gergerlioğlu was handed two years and six months in prison for "making propaganda of a terrorist organization" by sharing a news article and his sentence was approved by the Court of Cassation last month, paving way for him to be stripped of his deputyship. 

HDP lawmakers are often accused of having links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). A number of its deputies were stripped of their statuses in the past and scores of HDP members, including former lawmakers, are currently imprisoned.

Gergerlioğlu is known for being a human rights defender and recently drew ire from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) for revealing strip searches in prisons. 

Gergerlioğlu said that no deputy was present in parliament when the decision to strip them of their parliamentary statuses was given, but that he will resist. He also noted that those willing to arrest him may do so under the roof of parliament. 

"I'll be at the General Assembly when the decision to strip me of my status is being read. Turkey and the whole world would see what it means to take a deputy away from the people," Gergerlioğlu told a group of journalists on March 15.

"This is not a simple instance. I'll wait at the General Assembly until the end. I'll wait inside parliament. I'll wait in people's hearts. I won't leave this place and the scenes from 1994 would reoccur," he said, referring to the detentions of pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP) lawmakers Orhan Doğan and Hatip Dicle in parliament. 

Gergerlioğlu said that his deputyship is being tried to be taken away from him through plots and that he won't surrender them. 

"I'll resist in parliament. They can come and get me from here," he said. 

"Some 90,000 people voted for me, so they'd be imprisoning those people with me as well. The decision to strip me of my parliamentary status can be adopted, but I'll still be a deputy in the hearts of the people," Gergerlioğlu noted. 

The lawmaker also drew attention to the fact that he took his case to the Constitutional Court and no ruling has been issued yet. 

During his interview, Gergerlioğlu said that other opposition parties must react if his deputyship is removed. 

"This is not about the HDP. It can be done against me today, but it will be their turn tomorrow," he said.