Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has filed a lawsuit against pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ahmet Şık for allegedly insulting the party during a speech he delivered on July 23 when parliament discussed a controversial anti-terror bill.
The AKP is seeking a compensation of 100,000 Turkish Liras ($27,580) from Şık. The AKP’s lawyers, Burhanettin Sevencan and Muammer Cemaloğlu, argued in a lawsuit petition that Şık’s speech was out of context and was not related to the bill discussed in parliament.
“Şık made illogical, unconscionable and totally false acquisitions against the AKP,” the lawyers said in the petition. “His statements included elements amounting to gross insult,” they added, citing extracts from Şık’s speech. “His accusations directed at the AKP were totally ungrounded and he incited hatred and animosity in public through those accusations,” the lawyers argued.
Şık’s speech stirred a debate between ruling and opposition lawmakers, leading him to be excluded from two consecutive sessions on the ground of “insulting lawmakers.”
Şık fiercely criticized the bill stating the articles were the continuation of the state of emergency rule, accusing the ruling party of pursuing its interests by abusing democratic powers, in a bid to “root and institutionalize its oppressive regime.” When Şık used the words “’immorality” and “shamelessness,” the AKP deputies stood up to attack him.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mustafa Şentop turned off Şık’s microphone and said, “Ahmet Şık’s words require him to be temporarily dismissed him from Parliament.” In an immediate vote, Şık was banned from the next two sessions in the legislature. The other HDP deputies left the general assembly with him.
Şık is a journalist for the Cumhuriyet newspaper and was elected as an HDP deputy in the last elections on June 24. He was imprisoned for 15 months between December 2016 and March 2018 due to his tweets and news stories.
The post Turkey’s ruling AKP sues HDP deputy Ahmet Şık for alleged insult appeared first on Stockholm Center for Freedom.
from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/turkeys-ruling-akp-sues-hdp-deputy-ahmet-sik-for-alleged-insult/
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