Turkey sues Demirtas over chemical warfare remarks, seeks compensation
Turkish Defense Ministry sued imprisoned Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas over his remarks on Turkey’s chemical warfare allegations in Northern Iraq.
The lawsuit against Demirtas asking 100,000 Turkish liras ($5,400) for non-pecuniary damages was filed on charges of "attacking personal rights, honor and dignity of the Turkish Armed Forces," Mezopotamya news agency reported on Thursday.
The former co-Chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on Oct.19 said
the use of chemical weapons is a felony all around the world and called for an investigation of the situation by an independent, international delegation.
Commenting on the videos posted on social media showing Kurdish militants who were allegedly suffered from chemical weapon attacks, Demirtas said staying silent on the issue is a confirmation of the crime and the clear culprit of such thing would be the Turkish government which has “no boundaries in its war policy”.
2- Bu görüntülere TBMM ve muhalefet sessiz kalamaz. Bunu sessizlikle geçiştirmek suçu onaylamaktır.
— Selahattin Demirtaş (@hdpdemirtas) October 19, 2022
Gerekçesi ne olursa olsun kimyasal silah kullanmak dünyanın her yerinde ağır bir suçtur. Böyle bir suçun açık sorumlusu, savaş politikasında sınır tanımayan AKP-MHP iktidarı olur.
Demitas’ remarks are completely within the scope of freedom of expression and neither include any criminal element, nor constitute an unjust attack against any person or institution, Kurdish politician’s defense team said in response to the lawsuit.
“This lawsuit cannot be explained by law, reason or logic. This approach, which has no meaning other than strangling and intimidating the freedom of expression and the freedom of political discussion by the judiciary, is also one of the clearest examples of the long-standing practice of organized and institutional hatred against our client, Mr. Demirtas,” Mezopotamya cited the lawyers as saying.
Demirtas remains behind bars since 2016 on terrorism charges, despite several domestic and international court orders for his release, including the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
