Turkey Orders Detention Of Pro-Kurdish Party Co-head Before Congress
Turkish prosecutors are seeking for the arrest of Serpil Kemalbay, the effective head of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), two days to party congress, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday.
Kemalbay is among the 17 being sought on charges of "inciting conflict," over calls for protests against the ongoing Turkish military offensive in the Syrian-Kurdish enclave Afrin, the report said.
However, eight out of the 17 have been detained.
"The oppression, detentions, arrests can neither prevent us from holding our congress nor our struggle for democracy and peace," Kemalbay said in a statement on Friday.The congress aims to elect the party's leadership.
Nine HDP members of parliament, including co-chair Selahattin Demirtas, are in jail and thousands of party members have been arrested.
Demirtas has been behind bars for 15 months, with court cases against him ongoing.
Both Kemalbay and Demirtas are expected to be replaced by HDP's deputy parliament speaker Pervin Buldan and former HDP member of parliament, Sezai Temelli on Sunday.
The government alleges that the HDP, which remains legal, has links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed group.
The HDP says it is independent.
Seven members of parliament from HDP – the third largest bloc in the legislative house have been stripped of their seats in the past year, while a number remain behind bars.
At least 47 high ranking officials have been detained since the Afrin operation started.
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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