Imprisoned Kurdish leader barred from video conference with Turkey Parliament
The Turkish Parliament's Speaker told Demirtas that his demand fell under the jurisdiction of the judiciary and there was no procedure his office could activate.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) - The Turkish Parliament Speaker on Thursday rejected a request by the imprisoned co-leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas to address his party's parliamentarians via video conference.
Speaker Ismail Kahraman told Demirtas in a written response that his demand fell under the jurisdiction of the judiciary and there was no procedure his office could activate.
In his July letter, Demirtas had stated that the Justice Ministry agreed his imprisonment pending trial and that of other ten HDP lawmakers did not bar them from attending legislative activities at the Parliament, reported Kurdistan 24's Turkish language service.
Police detained Demirtas and a dozen other Kurdish lawmakers including HDP's then co-leader Figen Yuksekdag in midnight house raids in November 2016.
The Kurdish leader said in his letter that he and his MPs were "unlawfully" under detention for months.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls Demirtas a "terrorist," accusing him of membership in the armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that is waging a decades-long guerrilla warfare against Turkish troops for Kurdish self-rule.
Demirtas whom Turkish prosecutors have asked up to 142 years of imprisonment in numerous cases, including those of insulting Erdogan, denies any ties with the PKK.
The HDP that in June 2015 elections for the first time in over a decade barred Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) from a super majority to form a one-party government, remains handicapped after last year's massive crackdown with thousands of members in jail.
Demirtas has previously said he was a “hostage” because of his stance against what he described as Erdogan’s plans of forging “a one-man rule” in Turkey.
Editing by Ava Homa