HDP deputy says police broke his leg 'in a planned attack'

Photo: MA

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People's Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Habip Eksik has criticized the speaker of the parliament and the opposition parties for keeping silent over Sunday's (October 9) attack on him by police officers that resulted in a broken leg.

Eksik said that he would be bringing a suit against the police chiefs giving instructions for the attack and those officers who carried it out.

The police stormed the march organized in Yüksekova district of the Kurdish-majority eastern province of Hakkari to protest the anniversary of a 1998 process that began with Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) being forced to leave Syria, and ended in his arrest in Türkiye.

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The police broke Eksik's leg in the event, and he is at the moment receiving treatment at Ankara City Hospital.

Eksik criticized the silence of Speaker of the Parliament Mustafa Şentop, saying, "The speaker of parliament who has sworn an oath for impartiality should have taken a stance against such an attack.

"All political parties, all democratic organizations, and all non-governmental organizations should have shown their reactions. Some politicians from the opposition have denounced the attack personally. There were some who wished me a speedy recovery.

"However, we have not seen any reactions shown in the name of these organizations, especially not from the Nation Alliance."

"Protesting is our Constitutional right"

He further said, "The marches we have organized in Yüksekova and in other cities were for the purpose of denouncing and protesting isolation in prisons in the name of Öcalan.

"According to the Constitution, all demonstrations and meetings can be held as long as there is no call for violence. There is no need to take permission. We told this so many times, this is our constitutional right."

"A planned and organized attack"

Eksik said the police had attacked him in a "planned and organized" manner.

"They started attacking us while the negotiations were still continuing with the instruction from the chief of police. Sait Dede, our Hakkari MP, was also attacked," he said.

Eksik said that having already received some blows, he was trying to take his mobile in his hand and saying "I will be making a complaint."

The doctors had told him that this was a very bad fracture that could only result from a traffic accident or a major trauma, he added. (AS/PE/VK)