Turkey: Opposition party officials face terror charges

By Osman Bilgin

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AA) - Two officials of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a party Turkey’s top prosecutor is seeking to close over terrorist links, were accused on Tuesday of spreading terrorist propaganda and being members of an armed terrorist group, according to a judicial source.

Defendants Zeyyat Ceylan, the HDP’s provincial head in the Diyarbakir province, and Hulya Alokmen Uyanik, one of the party's executives, attended the hearing at Fifth High Penal Court in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, from prison via video link with their lawyers present in person, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

Denying the charges against them, the defendants and their lawyers sought their release during the trial, and the court granted their request.

If convicted, the defendants could face some eight to 20 years in prison.

On Oct. 22, 2020, police searched the HDP offices in Diyarbakir as part of an investigation of the terrorist group PKK and seized a large number of organizational documents, digital materials, banned books, magazines and newspapers.

Posters, portraits of the terrorist PKK ringleader, and cloth banners of the terrorist group YPG/PKK were also seized.

Ceylan and Uyanik were arrested on Oct. 30 on charges of a terrorist group membership.

Last week Turkey's top prosecutor filed an indictment seeking to shut down the HDP, calling it an undemocratic party that colludes with the terrorist group PKK and seeks to destroy the unity of the state.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian branch.