Former Kurdish lawmaker flees Turkey, seeks asylum in Greece

Birlik is the third former Kurdish lawmaker to have fled President Erdogan's rule.

ISTANBUL (Kurdistan 24) – Leyla Birlik, a former lawmaker from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), has fled the country by illegally entering Greece and seeking asylum there, Greek police confirmed to Kurdistan 24 on Saturday.

Upon arrival, Birlik was taken into police custody in the city of Alexandroupoli just 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of the Turkish-Greek border, a location chosen by many to escape the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

If Greek authorities agree to grant her asylum, it is likely to inflame existing tensions between Athens and Ankara.

When contacted for further information, her husband Mehmet Birlik, and her family’s lawyer Busra Demir said they did not know much about the ex-MP’s case in Greece.

Demir said there were lawsuits against Birlik and a ban on leaving the county, but not an arrest warrant.

Birlik is the third Kurdish lawmaker from the 26th Parliament to have fled Turkey since a massive crackdown on the opposition began in the aftermath of the 2016 military coup attempt to topple Erdogan.

Before her, Tugba Hezer and Faysal Sariyildiz went to a European country to evade probable imprisonment. They were consequently ousted from the national assembly before the end of their terms.

Birlik was arrested in November 2016 when Turkish police rounded up a dozen lawmakers, including HDP’s former Co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag during night raids across several provinces. She was released in January the following year.

She is the sister-in-law to Haci Lokman Birlik, an actor who was killed by Turkish police special forces in October 2015 during a phase of urban warfare between government forces and Kurdish rebels.

The police then dragged his dead body behind an armored vehicle with a rope tied around the neck, filming and posting it online.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany