Prosecutors in several cities on Friday ordered the detention of 12 Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) legislators for failure to respond to summons for questioning on terror charges they faced. The expected move is part of judicial investigations into charges of aiding and abetting the PKK, recognized as a terrorist group by the EU and the U.S. The HDP, together with its municipal affiliate the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), has been known to take its orders from the PKK.
Over the last several months, HDP deputies, enjoying parliamentary immunity from prosecution, have been caught red-handed delivering ammunition and arms to PKK militants and providing institutional support to terrorist attacks that killed innocent civilians and members of the security forces. They attended the funerals of dead terrorists, propagated PKK doctrines and attacked efforts that run counter to the PKK's official line, among many other actions that are considered crimes in all democratic countries that respect the rule of law. They praised terrorist attacks, glorified the death of suicide bombers, and threatened their fellow citizens and the state, conduct that should be deemed unacceptable by anyone with an inkling of common sense.
The main victims of the HDP and its deputies have been Turkey's Kurdish citizens, whose interests they no longer represent. Since the beginning, they have supplanted the interests of Kurds to the whims and schemes of the PKK, stifling the Kurdish people's right to freedom of expression. Their calls for uprising resulted in the deaths of over 50 people during the clashes of Oct. 6-8, 2014. It has become obvious to many that their priority is not the welfare of Kurds, but to further the narrow aims of terrorists by sowing chaos and bloodshed across the east and the southeast.
The process that resulted in the detention of the HDP deputies began when Parliament decided on May 20 this year to lift the immunities of 148 legislators facing criminal charges. Among those whose immunities were lifted were deputies from all four parties in Parliament. The move paved the way for the investigations to proceed, with prosecutors inviting deputies for questioning. Among those who were summoned were the chairmen of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahçeli. Former CHP Chairman Deniz Baykal was also invited for questioning. All these politicians accepted the summons.
However, HDP deputies publicly refused to accede to these invitations, trying to turn the whole process into a circus. After the end of the proper waiting period, prosecutors naturally demanded the detention of the 12 deputies for questioning. Several were sent to court for their arrest for terror-linked activities while others were released pending their trial. They were not detained for being Kurds or waging politics based on the Kurdish identity, but for believing they were above the law and rejecting the prosecutor's subpoenas, which results in similar actions all across the world.
The detention of HDP deputies, who tricked that constituency into thinking that they will protect their rights and interests, and instead turned into terror-supporting fanatics out to create disorder, should come as no surprise.
It's now up to the Constitutional Court to outlaw the HDP, which has become a nest of terrorists and their enablers. The European Court of Human Rights approved a similar case with respect to the banning of Batasuna by a Spanish court.
Politicians who respect the rule of law and democracy, and want to base their policies on their Kurdish ethnic identity need to launch a new movement to defend the interests of their constituency. Kurdish elites untainted by terror need to bravely raise their voices and not be cowed by PKK persecution and the militancy of pro-PKK politicians. Kurdish people need representatives who push for further democratization, stability, order and put in place policies that will end chaos rather than militants in civilian disguise who feed on anarchy.