Deputies Emine Ayna, Fatma Kurtulan, Aysel Tuğluk, Sabahat Tuncel and Selahattin Demirtaş received official notices in May instructing them to testify as part of criminal cases in which they were implicated in the past. The deputies have long refused to testify in the cases over crimes they are charged with having committed before they were elected as deputies. The deputies have refused to testify, saying they would be subjected to discrimination if they are forced to do so as they have parliamentary immunity.In the same month, former Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan, “accidentally” delivered the testimony summons from the Ankara 11th Criminal Court to the deputies but later withdrew it, saying the Parliament needs time to solve any possible crisis.
The criminal court agreed to postpone the trial in which Demirtaş and Ahmet Türk are suspects until Sept. 29. As the day of the trial draws nearer, it is said that the court may possibly rule to bring the deputies to court by force if they insist on refusing to testify.
Jurists and intellectuals have called on the Parliament and the government several times to resolve the crisis and prevent it from damaging the efforts to solve Turkey's long-standing Kurdish problem. They warn that forcing the DTP deputies to testify under the threat of police force would set Turkey back 15 years, referring to an incident in 1994 when four Democracy Party (DEP) deputies were taken out of Parliament by police.
M. EDİB YILMAZ
SEVGİ AKARÇEŞME
LAURA MOTH
MAHIR ZEYNALOV
SİNEM CENGİZ
ABDULLAH AYASUN
FATMA DEMİRELLİ
ŞULE KULU
ABDULLA HAWEZ
ERGİN HAVA
PINAR VURUCU
E. BARIŞ ALTINTAŞ
DENİZ ERGÜREL
ESRA MADEN