Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ, who commented on the detention of 11 pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies including the party’s co-chairs in the early hours of Friday, has said the detentions are within the limits of the law.
“The operation that has been launched [against the HDP] is in compliance with the Constitution and the rule of law. The law that applies to everyone applies to deputies as well. This necessary action was taken because they did not act in compliance with the law,” said Bozdağ on Friday morning.
Counterterrorism police in the early hours of Friday raided HDP headquarters in Ankara and conducted a search of the premises while 12 deputies, including Co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, were detained in police operations in Ankara and the southeastern provinces. One of the deputies was released on probation on Friday morning.
After the government’s lifting of parliamentary immunity in June, mainly applicable to HDP deputies in practice, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made clear that the new law would be used to prosecute HDP deputies on “terrorism” charges rather than lawmakers linked to corruption.