DTP calls court case a democracy test for government

The Ankara 11th High Criminal Court on Tuesday ruled to allow the use of police force to bring DTP Deputy Chairman Selahattin Demirtaş and the DTP's chairwoman, Emine Ayna, to a judicial hearing slated for Dec. 29. The same court gave the same ruling for another DTP deputy, Sabahat Tuncel, yesterday.

The DTP deputies are not protected by their parliamentary immunity under an interpretation of Article 14 and Article 83 of the Constitution that holds immunity as ignorable in cases of “crimes directed at the inseparable integrity of the state, country and the nation,” if the court cases are opened before the individuals are elected to Parliament.

But neither the articles nor any other law elaborates on which crimes fall under the category of the crimes against the integrity of the state. Demirtaş and Ayna were charged with promoting the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Tuncel was charged with praising crime and criminals.

After the court ruling, in their initial remarks all the DTP deputies said the decision was discrimination against them and that they will not attend the hearings.

According to Burhan Kuzu, the chairperson of the parliamentary Constitutional Committee from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the only way to keep DTP deputies from being brought to a courtroom by force is through a Constitutional amendment but to insist on not attending the hearing is “opportunism.”

“We are talking about the democratization process, this process should not be axed,” he said.

The court ruling comes at a time when the government is working on a package -- referred to as the Kurdish initiative or the democratic initiative -- that seeks to improve rights and freedoms for the country's Kurds with the ultimate aim of solving Turkey's long-standing Kurdish question peacefully.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said that he was against the prosecution of the deputies, but he also urged the DTP deputies to go to the courtroom and give their testimonies in order to minimize tension.

“They can protest the situation. I can support that. But if they make a gesture and go to the courtroom it will be better than to resist going,” Arınç said.

Other commentators, like Mehmet Ali Birand, suggested that if the DTP deputies are really sincere about supporting the government's democratization initiative they should attend the hearing.

‘Democratization should start with freedom of expression'

Demirtaş, while evaluating these comments, said that their case is not a test for them but a test for the government.

“The articles that we are accused under are basically related to the freedom of expression, and we are not the only ones charged under them. There are many other journalists and intellectuals convicted, arrested or judged by them. If the government is sincere about democratization it should start by removing the obstacles in front of freedom of expression,” he said.

According to Demirtaş, amending the articles of the anti-terror law and the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) is not as difficult as amending the constitution.

“We are excluded from the Parliament. We are always the ones who tried to overcome oppression. Now they are asking us to bow our heads to an unfair requirement,” Demirtaş told Today's Zaman.

He added that they are aware of the good intentions of those who are urging them to go to the court and give testimony, but that such a situation is not consistent with their struggle for understanding.

“If there is unfairness somewhere, the way to cope with it is to struggle against it, not to bow to it, in our understanding,” he said.

Commenting on proposed “middle way” solutions, which aim to define which crimes fall under the category of “crimes against the integrity of the state,” Demirtaş said that while a middle way solution is possible, it is not preferable to them.

“Middle way solutions are not our preference. It should be understood very clearly that we are not out to save ourselves. If the middle way option is implemented, this would mean that Turkey has surrendered to an unfair situation,” he said.

‘I will not resist police'

On the option of being forcibly brought to court by police, Demirtaş said that it was not possible, as police cannot touch deputies who have Parliamentary immunity.

He recalled commentators which suggested that the DTP deputies want to be brought to court by police force in order for images of the incident to end up in foreign media in order to deepen the crisis.

“Such comments break our hearts, they hurt us. This is definitely not our wish,” he said, and added that they are not planning to hide out in the Parliament since the police cannot enter it.

“If the police come, I will not resist, because I don't want to create a scene that will traumatize the society,” he said.