Green Left Party parliamentary candidate detained after Interior Minister Soylu’s targeting remarks

After Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu’s remarks targeting the Green Left Party, police have detained a parliamentary candidate of the party. The HDP is competing in the May elections under the Green Left Party due to the risk of closure.

Wednesday April 26 2023 02:03 pm

Duvar English

Ayten Dönmez, a parliamentary candidate from the Green Left Party, has been detained after Interior Süleyman Soylu’s targeting of the party.

During a live interview on 24 TV on April 25, Soylu said, “There are terrorists on the parliamentary candidate lists of the Green Left Party. They would soon show up with images on mountains, having dressed up clothes of the (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) PKK.”

Soylu further claimed that the Green Left Party was founded “with Kandil’s decision,” referring to the main base of the PKK.

Shortly after these remarks, Dönmez, which the Green Left Party nominated from Kocaeli, was detained in Istanbul on allegations that she had been active in the PKK.

The HDP is entering the elections under the Green Left Party, due to the risk of being closed prior to the May 14 elections.

The HDP is fiercely opposed to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) after a crackdown in recent years in which thousands of its members, lawmakers and mayors have been jailed or stripped of positions over alleged PKK ties.