Two more pro-PKK HDP MPs face terror charges

Two more lawmakers from the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) have been charged with terrorism-related offenses, a judicial source told Anadolu Agency (AA) yesterday. Ziya Pir, a HDP Diyarbakır deputy, was charged with being a member of a terrorist organization, making propaganda for a terror group and provoking people to commit hate crimes, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.

Diyarbakır province's public prosecutor is seeking a prison sentence from between nine and 23 years for Pir, specifically highlighting the deputy's statements describing security forces' operations against the PKK and the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) terrorists as a "massacre."

The indictment added that Pir had described the ditches dug by the terrorist organization, created to prevent security forces from entering areas controlled by the PKK, as an act of a "liberation struggle." It also said Pir had asked people to support members of the terrorist organization. He also described the terrorist organization members as "guerrillas" and "martyr guerrillas," it said.

Pir was detained on Nov. 4 in southeastern Turkey's Diyarbakır province as part of an anti-terrorism investigation and was released later under judicial control.

Meanwhile, HDP's Van Deputy Bedia Özgökçe Ertan was also charged with creating propaganda for a terrorist organization, the judicial source added yesterday.

Van's public prosecutor was a seeking a prison sentence of up to five years for Ertan over her speech on March 5 that praised the PKK's terrorist attacks and for making propaganda for the terror organization.

Also, the detained HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş has been charged with insulting Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

The indictment said that Demirtaş's 2015 allegation, made ahead of that June's general elections, had exceeded the limits of freedom of expression and were intended to humiliate Soylu.

In addition, HDP Diyarbakır Deputy Nimetullah Erdoğmuş has been charged with spreading terrorist organization propaganda, the source said Wednesday.

Diyarbakır's public prosecutor is seeking a prison sentence from one to five years for Erdoğmus over his statements calling security forces' operations against PKK/KCK terrorist organization members "illegal."

Last month, 13 HDP lawmakers were arrested, and 10, including co-chairs Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, remain in custody awaiting trial on terrorism-related charges.

The lawmakers face prosecution under anti-terrorism legislation after their parliamentary immunity was lifted earlier this year.