The İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court yesterday ruled to bring Aysel Tuğluk -- who was deprived of her parliamentary membership along with DTP head Ahmet Türk in a Constitutional Court decision on Friday that also shut down the DTP -- to a hearing scheduled for March 30, 2010 by force considering “the stage the case against her has reached.”
Tuğluk lost her parliamentary immunity with the loss of her status as a deputy.
A total of five suspects, including Tuğluk, are facing charges of membership in the outlawed PKK in a trial being heard by the İstanbul 13th Higher Criminal Court. The suspects face jail sentences of between five and 15 years.
The Constitutional Court ordered the closure of the DTP after finding it guilty of cooperating with the PKK, branded a terrorist organization by Washington, Brussels and Ankara. The court ruling drew criticism from the European Union, dealing a new blow to Turkey’s faltering hopes of EU membership. The PKK has been waging a separatist campaign of violence for more than two decades against security forces in southeast Turkey. Some 40,000 people have died in the violence since 1984.
