A scandalous official court notification was sent to HDP MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu whose parliamentary membership was revoked last week after he had been sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison by the pro-government judiciary.

In a notification sent by the Kocaeli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Gergerlioğlu was summoned to "surrender". He was threatened with an arrest warrant in the contrary case.

Background

Gergerlioğlu was found guilty in February 2018 of “spreading terrorism propaganda” on the basis of a 2016 social media post that did not advocate violence.

Turkey’s top appeals court upheld the conviction and sentence of two years and six months in prison on February 19, 2021. On March 15, the Speaker of Turkey’s parliament indicated that steps to strip Gergerlioğlu of his seat may be imminent, though Gergerlioğlu has filed a Constitutional Court challenge to the prosecution against him.

Gergerlioğlu was stripped of his MP status after the court verdict was read out at the General Assembly of the Parliament on March 17. He then launched a “justice vigil” in the parliament together with other HDP deputies. The action continued until he was detained at 6.30 a.m. on March 21 morning.

The HDP said in a statement: "As Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu went to the bathroom to prepare for his morning prayers, around 100 police officers entered the HDP's hall in the parliament building, where Gergerlioğlu has carried out his protest watch for the last 5 days."

The politician was detained at the Kavaklıdere Police Station for several hours and was released in the afternoon after his statement in the newly initiated investigation against him was recorded. The MP said at a press conference after his release that he had been ill-treated by the police. The police injured his arms and hit his fingers and back. The politician had visible abrasions on his arms.

Gergerlioğlu reported: “After washing my hands in the morning, I did the religious ablutions and said to the police: 'Let me pray and put on a top, I still have slippers on, then we go.' They said, 'No, that won't work.' They said I could pray at the police station. I replied that the time for morning prayer would be over. They didn't accept that. They attacked me, grabbed my arm and dragged me out. They took me to the elevator. They pulled me and beat me in various places. My fingers are numb. Then I was forced into a police car. These are very ugly pictures."

Background

On August 20, 2016, almost two years before he became member of parliament, Gergerlioğlu tweeted and commented on a news story briefly reporting that the leadership of the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq had called on the Turkish state to take a step towards peace. The news story also carried a lengthy response to the PKK call by Bülent Arinç, then the speaker of the parliament and former deputy prime minister.

Gergerlioğlu said that, “This [the PKK’s] call should be properly considered, there’s no end to the issue…!” (Bu çağrı hakkıyla değerlendirilmeli, bu işin sonu yok…!), making the argument that there should be a renewed peace process to end the decades-long conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK. Gergerlioglu was convicted for this tweet sharing the news article and its accompanying photograph of PKK fighters.

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