18 farmers detained for protesting power cuts in southeast Turkey

* Photo: İLKHA

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The farmers whose crops have been damaged due to the power cuts of the Dicle Electricity Distribution Inc. (DEDAŞ) in Urfa were protesting the company. 18 farmers have been detained for this reason.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Mahmut Tanal has announced the farmers' detention in Turkey's southeastern province of Urfa. Defining the detentions as "not legal, but political", Tanal has raised concerns that people face "an arbitrary decision that was given to repress the farmers' democratic rights, to scare and intimidate them."

CLICK - Farmers protest power cuts with tractors in Urfa

'How will farmers voice their problems?'

Tanal, also a lawyer himself, has said that the farmers exercised their democratic rights and they must be released immediately for this reason:

"With their crops drying out in the field due to power cuts, farmers closed the road to make themselves heard by exercising their democratic right of protest. There is no criminal intent.

"The protest in question is a Constitutional right. The Constitution's Article 34 on the right to hold meetings and demonstration marches emphasizes that 'everyone has the right to hold unarmed and peaceful meetings and demonstration marches without prior permission.'

"Moreover, Article 26 of the Constitution notes that 'everyone has the right to express and disseminate his/her thoughts and opinions by speech, in writing or in pictures or through other media, individually or collectively.'

"While the bandits intercepting people on the road and asking them for IDs are not detained, my townspeople from Şanlıurfa are handcuffed and referred to the courthouse when they protest for a legitimate purpose.

"How will farmers voice their problems? How will they ensure that the public hears about the unjust practices of the DEDAŞ?

"Detaining the farmers from Şanlıurfa who are seeking their democratic rights is against the Constitution, international conventions and law, thereby being unlawful. My townspeople from Şanlıurfa must be released immediately in order for their grievances to end.

"Farmers of Şanlıurfa who exercise their democratic right cannot be treated as terrorists!" (HA/SD)