An investigation has been launched into pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Batman deputies Feleknas Uca and Mehmet Rüştü Tiryaki for attending the funeral of a terrorist of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) earlier this month.
The investigation was launched by the Batman Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on the grounds that Uca and Tiryaki attended the funeral in Batman of PKK terrorist Devran Baysal, who was killed in a clash with Turkish security forces in the southeastern province of Hakkari on July 8.
The deputies face charges of disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization.
The PKK, which has been waging a bloody war in Turkey’s Southeast for more than three decades, is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the US.
Many HDP deputies including the party’s former co-chairpersons and local politicians are facing terror charges and are jailed due to an ongoing government crackdown on Kurdish politicians in the country.
The government also replaced pro-Kurdish mayors with the government-appointed officials in dozens of municipalities in the country’s East and Southeast.