Former HDP deputy Hatice Kocaman jailed

An arrest warrant has been issued for former HDP deputy Hatice Kocaman. She is facing up to 15 years in prison for her work in the Democratic Society Congress (DTK).

Former HDP (Peoples' Democratic Party) deputy Hatice Kocaman was arrested on Wednesday for her work in the Democratic Society Congress (DTK). She is accused of "membership in a terrorist organization." The prosecution is demanding a sentence of 7.5 to 15 years in prison.

Kocaman had been arrested on Sept. 30, 2020, during a large-scale operation against the DTK in Amed (Diyarbakır) but was released by the court under reporting conditions. She was arrested following today's trial at the 9th Diyarbakır Heavy Court, and the trial was adjourned.

The Democratic Society Congress functions as an umbrella organization of political parties, civil organizations, religious communities, and women's and youth organizations that sees itself as a social counter-design to state structures and develops concepts for the self-organization of the population and alternatives for local self-government - based on councils and grassroots democracy. DTK consists of about 1,000 delegates, 60 percent of whom are directly elected by the population and 40 percent of whom are appointed by civil society organizations, and is divided into commissions. Both within the umbrella organization and in the district councils and city councils, there is no quota of women, but there is a gender quota. This means that the proportion of women and men respectively must not fall below 40 percent. Although the DTK is not banned, members of the association are repeatedly the target of criminalization under the terror paragraph. In this way, the oppositional organization of civil society is meant to be crushed.