Turkey Arrests Pro-Kurdish MP who Was Expelled from Parliament

World

March 21st, 8:15am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, a human rights advocate and lawmaker from the People’s Democratic Party, reacts after the parliament stripped his parliamentary seat on March 17, 2021. (AP)

Turkish authorities on Sunday arrested a pro-Kurdish opposition MP who had refused to leave parliament for several days after his seat was revoked, his party said. "Our deputy (Omer) Faruk Gergerlioglu has been placed in custody," the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), parliament's third largest, said on Twitter. The parliament on Wednesday revoked the seat of Gergerlioglu, an outspoken rights defender, and his accompanying immunity from prosecution after a controversial conviction over a social media post. HDP said around 100 police officers entered parliament to detain him Sunday. Video of his detention showed police officers dragging him away. The party, which is in the throes of a government crackdown, said Gergerlioglu was detained as he was performing his ablutions for morning prayers. “The police insisted on detaining him, and took him away in his pajamas and slippers,” the HDP said in a statement. Gergerlioglu was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to two years and six months in prison for “spreading terrorist propaganda” after he retweeted a 2016 news article about a call for peace by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. An appeals court confirmed the conviction, saying he was “owning” and “legitimizing” the PKK by sharing the link, which included a photograph of armed fighters.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2872436/turkey-arrests-pro-kurdish-mp-who-was-expelled-parliament