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HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş
Press Release by the EU-Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC):
The EUTCC joins all other advocates of legal due process as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its corresponding EU declarations and respectfully appeals to the Independent democratic Turkish judiciary to dismiss the frivolous libel suit against HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas for insulting the Turkish president.
In Demirtas own words: “… the legal system cannot have crimes regarding “honor” and “dignity,” and “insulting one’s pride.” Unless this ill-timed and unfair suit is dismissed, the HDP co-chair Demirtas faces an unjust prison term of from one to four years that would effectively inhibit the normal democratic process in Turkey and all well-meaning hopes to restart the Turkish-Kurdish peace process.
There is a war going on in the Kurdish regions in Turkey which has already taken the lives of thousands of Kurds and displaced even more. The Turkish AKP government’s strategy is obviously to strangle all legal democratic voices such as critical journalists and lawfully elected politicians.
Kariane Westrheim (Chair) Michael Gunter (SA) Joost Jongerden (BM)
