Turkish court orders arrest of opposition deputies

By Rauf Maltas and Mehmet Fatih Aslan

SANLIURFA, Turkey (AA) - Arrest warrants against two lawmakers from Turkey’s opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were issued Wednesday.

Ibrahim Ayhan and Dilek Ocalan, who both represent Sanliurfa province in the southeast, are wanted on charges of promoting terrorist propaganda at the funeral of a PKK terrorist in February last year.

Ayhan faces another propaganda charge due to his social media activity in September 2015.

Ocalan is the neice of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The Sanliurfa 5th High Criminal Court issued the order after they failed to attend court to give evidence a second time and police reported they could not be found at their registered addresses.

Defence lawyer Sevda Celik Ozbingol said the pair were covered by parliamentary immunity and should be invited by letter to give testimony.

In early November, 13 HDP deputies were arrested and 10, including co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, were jailed pending trial on terrorism-related charges. Since then, several other lawmakers from the party have been arrested after their parliamentary immunity was lifted.

The government has alleged that the HDP is politicially close to the PKK, which resumed its armed campaign in July 2015 and is considered a terror organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU.