Police detain citizen who told İYİ Party Chair Akşener ‘Kurdistan is denied’

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Shopkeeper Cemil Taşkesen has been taken into custody over his remarks during İYİ Party Chair Meral Akşener's visit to Siirt province.

Addressing Meral Akşener, Cemil Taşkesen said yesterday (October 28), "Our language is denied, our identity is denied, Kurdistan is denied. We are against this. The place where you are now is Kurdisan, but unfortunately, this Kurdistan is denied at the Parliament."

The Kurtalan Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Siirt has launched an investigation against Cemil Taşkesen on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" over his remarks "...the place where you are now is Kurdistan, but this Kurdistan is unfortunately denied at the Parliament."

Detained in a raid on his house as part of this investigation, Cemil Taşkesen has been taken to the security directorate. As of 2 pm local time in Turkey today, Taşkesen was still in police custody.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Siirt MP and HDP Parliamentary Group Deputy Chair Meral Danış Beştaş has shared the news about Taşkesen's detention on her social media account and said, "A party leader who came to Siirt was faced with the reality of the region, then the same old end: The citizen who mentioned Kurdistan has been taken into custody!"

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What happened?

During İYİ Party Chair Meral Akşener's visit to Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Siirt, a shopkeeper named Cemil Taşkesen said to her: "Our language is denied, our identity is denied, Kurdistan is denied. We are against this. The place where you are now is Kurdistan, but this Kurdistan is unfortunately denied at the Parliament." 

In response to these remarks, Akşener briefly said: "People being Kurdish, Turkish, Alevi, Sunni is their ethnic belonging. Everyone has to respect religious belongings, sectarian belongings... If you describe it like 'Here is Kurdistan'... I am saying this from the beginning: Are we a whole within the borders of this country or not? The answer to the question is one. The one to answer this question is both you and I. I am Turkish, you are Kurdish. Therefore, this is an answer to be given by the Kurd and Turk."

Another person from Siirt, in the meantime, said, "When you were the Interior Minister, how many unidentified murders were committed in the East and Southeast?" Akşener answered, "None during my term in office as the Interior Minister... You may criticize me, you may not like me, you may hate me, too. But I cannot accept lies and aspersions about me."

She explained, "I was an Interior Minister for 8 months. I was an intern Interior Minister when compared to Mr. [Süleyman] Soylu. For this reason, I cannot understand what I was. As I was an intern Interior Minister when compared to Mr. Soylu, it is impossible for me to have done what you said."

After İYİ Party Chair Meral Akşener got in her vehicle and left, some party members reacted to the ones who asked the questions. The police intervened and prevented further tension. (RT/SD)