The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has filed summaries of proceedings for three deputies from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on terror charges due to their criticism of a Turkish military operation in the Afrin region of Syria.
HDP deputies Adem Geveri, Bedia Özgökçe Ertan and Lezgin Botan are facing charges of disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization in their messages on social media regarding the operation in Afrin.
The summaries of proceedings against the deputies have been sent to the Turkish Parliament by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The Turkish military and Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters on Jan. 20 launched Operation Olive Branch in Afrin against the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Turkey sees as the Syrian extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have reacted strongly to people who oppose the operation, and prosecutor’s offices have initiated investigations into those who share social media messages critical of the operation.