Handling of case against DTP might sabotage Kurdish initiative

The administration fears the consequences if the deputies are brought to the courtroom by police using force. The Ankara 11th High Criminal Court may rule for the forced attendance of the deputies at a hearing out of fear that the statute of limitations on the case might expire if it does not get their testimonies.

Mardin deputies Ahmet Türk and Emine Ayna, Diyarbakır deputies Aysel Tuğluk and Selahattin Demirtaş, İstanbul deputy Sebahat Tuncel and Van deputy Fatma Kurtulan failed to give statements in connection with an ongoing case handled by different courts based in İstanbul, Diyarbakır and Adana, leading to a political crisis. The next hearing in connection with the case will be held on Sept. 29.

The government and state institutions are paying special attention to the case in an attempt to prevent a political crisis similar to the one that occurred in 1993 when Leyla Zana and her associates were taken into custody despite their parliamentary immunity. To prevent a judicial decision on Sept. 29 that will sabotage the Kurdish initiative, the government is seeking a resolution that will take care of the potential crisis in the trial of the DTP deputies. The Parliament Speaker's Office tried to buy more time in the case by delivering court decisions not directly to the deputies but to their secretaries instead. In a notification written to the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court, then-Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan stated that the court decisions were passed on to the secretaries, adding that they were not directly transferred to the deputies because of their frequent trips outside Ankara. The court, in consideration of this notification, postponed the hearing to Sept. 29.

In a note written to the Parliament Speaker's Office, the court warned that the five suspects should give statements at the hearing, stressing that if they fail to do this, they shall be brought to the courtroom by police force. Reports claim that the police will use force to take the defendants to the court on Sept. 29.

Şahin clarifies his stance

Interior Minister Beşir Atalay, who is coordinating the Kurdish initiative, paid a visit to Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Şahin to exchange views on the issue. Atalay and Şahin have deliberated over solutions to the problem given that it is no longer possible to postpone the hearing on the grounds that the subpoenas were not delivered to the suspects. The government is unlikely to guarantee a court decision that will rule out the transfer of the deputies to the courtroom by police force. It appears that it is Parliament's job to find a peaceful solution to this issue. In the past, cases involving parliamentary immunity were discussed by the parliamentary Justice Commission and left to the next parliamentary term. However, the immunity rules and terms do not apply to offenses that seek to violate the inseparable integrity of the state and the nation and destroy the democratic and secular republican order.

Because the offenses allegedly committed by the DTP deputies fall into this category, the dossiers of the cases were not transferred to the parliamentary commission. The Parliament Speaker's Office now plans to send another notification to the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court prior to the hearing on Sept. 29 in an effort to declare that the commission will clarify whether the cases in question are subjected to immunity rules. DTP lawyers argue that the commission is actually authorized to put off reviewing files on immunity requests until the end of the current parliamentary term. In a statement last week, Şahin made it clear that he, as the parliament speaker, will not allow the transfer of the deputies to the courtroom by police force.

The statement confirms the concerns held by the government that the court is likely to rule for the forced transfer of the defendants to the court session on Sept. 29. Şahin's statement is viewed as an attempt to discourage the 11th High Criminal Court from issuing such a ruling.

The DTP closure case before the Constitutional Court is another handicap and obstacle before the success of the government's recent initiative to resolve the Kurdish issue. The Constitutional Court, in its decision on the closure case filed against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), asked for legislative amendments to the Law on Political Parties. However, no amendment has been made since then because of the failure to achieve consensus and agreement on the changes to be made.

Considering that the closure case against the DTP may have negative repercussions, the Constitutional Court has done its best so far to postpone the hearings. The court sought to give more time until amendments to the Law on Political Parties were passed. However, Parliament has done nothing so far to address this problem.