HDP MP Gergerlioğlu: Resolution process ended, we became demons

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) - Archive

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Kocaeli MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu has announced that he will apply to the Constitutional Court and lodge an appeal against the verdict of the Court of Cassation, which has recently upheld his prison sentence of 2 years, 3 months.

The Right and Justice Platform has also released a statement about the MP, calling on everyone to solidarize with him.

CLICK - Court of Cassation upholds HDP MP's prison sentence

'It is a political decision'

HDP MP Gergerlioğlu addressed the reporters in a press conference at the Parliament earlier today (February 22). Defining the Court of Cassation ruling as a "political decision", Gergerlioğlu said:

"There is the life sentence given to me; but there is torture, abductions of people, strip search, ill prisoners, pregnant arrestees in Turkey.

"That is what I said. Is it wrong? There is the Kurdish question in Turkey, I said. I said that there is the Kurdish question that is tried to be solved with blood, war and tears. Is it a crime?

"Is it a crime to say that every one of us must lead a life compatible with human rights. Peace, life, fraternity, life... That is what I said. No sentence can turn me away from my path. I swear that it cannot."

Noting that he will not give up on his understanding of human rights, Gergerlioğlu said, "Don't expect something like that from me," adding,  "I am a specialist doctor discharged by a Statutory Decree; life is essential to me as a physician. Lives matter to me, peace matters to me."

'An unbelievable unlawfulness'

Reminding the public that he was elected with the nation's will, Gergerlioğlu said, "When you read the verdict of the Court of Cassation, you will see it. There is a very clear unlawfulness. You do not need to be a legal specialist to figure out this unlawfulness. The ordinary citizen on the street sees the unbelievable unlawfulness in this verdict."

Further in his statement, Gergerlioğlu briefly added:

"I, as a human rights advocate, said before the resolution process that the Kurdish question must be resolved. I said that no more blood should be shed in this country and this issue must be fixed with laws; I said that Kurds had been tormented for years. I didn't say it because I am a Kurd. I am a Turk. But I am a human rights defender. One does not have to be a Kurd to understand the problem of the Kurd.

"I spoke before the resolution process as well. We were also outcast back then. When I spoke during the resolution process, they told me, 'How nice you speak.' The resolution process ended, we became demons. What I say has not changed; I have been telling the same things."

Referring to the Constitutional Court ruling on main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Enis Berberoğlu, HDP's Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu has announced that he will also make an application to the top court and appeal against the ruling of Court of Cassation.

'He is regarded as a dangerous politician'

On the other side, the Right and Justice Platform has also released a written statement about HDP MP Gergerlioğlu. Calling on solidarity with the MP, the statement of the platform has read:

"In this country, the basic units of the state have always been mobilized to criminalize rights advocacy and silence the ones defending rights. This attitude stems from the government's fear of being unable to protect the authority that it built itself with an unlawful and unjust method.

"For this reason, it sees everyone who says something against its unlawful and unjust authority as a dangerous person.

"Having devoted his life to human rights struggle, dealt with unjust treatment of every person or group regardless of their views and affiliations and made efforts to eliminate human rights violations in Turkey, Gergerlioğlu is regarded as a dangerous politician for the government."

'Law is abused'

The platform has noted that "the government has been using the law as a stick against the opposition by manipulating it as it wishes," adding that it "brings everyone who puts up an effective performance of opposition against itself before the judiciary under its control and punishes them."

The Right and Justice Platform has underlined that the conviction of Dr. Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu for sharing a news report published by a media outlet two years ago shows the abuse of the law in Turkey.

Concluding its statement, the platform has said, "We declare that we stand with everyone who is struggling against the tension that has been built up, this unlawfulness that has been carried out and this authoritarianism that has getting deeper and deeper; we call on the public to solidarize with our friend Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu and other rights defenders..."

What happened?

HDP Kocaeli MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was sentenced to 2 years, 6 months in prison on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" on February 21, 2018 on the grounds of a social media post from 2016. This ruling given by the Kocaeli 2nd Heavy Penal Court has recently been upheld by the 16th Penal Chamber of the Court of Cassation.

Speaking shortly after this ruling was handed down, Gergerlioğlu said that the verdict was "political", adding, "Strip searches, abductions, tortures... Some people got disturbed by us talking about all these." (AÖ/EMK/SD)