Selahattin Demirtaş's book cited as evidence of 'membership in a terrorist organization'

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"Devran," a storybook by Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned former co-chair of the People's Democratic Party (HDP), has been cited as evidence of "membership in a terrorist organization" in a criminal case.

The police detained Necmettin İşlek on July 25, 2019, after raiding his home Bölükyazı village in the Kurdish-majority eastern province of Bitlis.

While İşlek was released after four days of detention, the police confiscated the "Devran" book during a search in his home.

After reviewing the book, the security directorate concluded that it portrayed the members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as civilians and the state as the "murderer" during the conflict in Kurdish-majority provinces in 2015 and early 2016.

"It has been considered that the suspected person's purpose for keeping this document in his home is that he sympathizes with the PKK/KCK terrorist organization and embraces the ideology of the PKK/KCK terrorist organization," said the police report.

The indictment, which charges İşlek with "membership in a terrorist organization," also includes pages 131 to 135 from the book.

The indictment has been accepted by the Bitlis 2nd Heavy Penal Court and İşlek's trial will start on March 19.

"It is a legal scandal that a storybook, which has sold hundreds of thousands, is cited as evidence for the charge of membership in a [terrorist] organization," İşlek's attorney Deniz Özaydınlı told halagzeteciyiz.net.

"According to the indictment and the [police] report, everyone who reads Selahattin Demirtaş's book and keeps it in their home, has the same opinion with the organization or at best 'sympathizes with the terrorist organization.' This indictment actually shows that no citizen has legal security," he added.

The attorney also noted that for most of the cases opened for similar charges, the investigations started in and the evidence was dated 2013, 2014 and 2015, when a "resolution process" to the Kurdish question was underway.

The cases began to be filed after the political atmosphere changed, he said.

The government announced the end of the process during the clashes in 2015. (TP/VK)