Ankara accuses opposition lawmakers of spreading terror

By Zafer Fatih Beyaz

ANKARA

Ankara's Chief Public Prosecutors Office on Monday accused some deputies of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) of spreading terrorism-related propaganda, in motions prepared against them.

The office said the deputies walked out of an ongoing session of the Turkish parliament in May 2016, chanting slogans in of Abdullah Ocalan, a convicted PKK terrorist jailed in Turkey since 1999.

The session was discussing the lifting of immunity of some deputies.

A separate motion was filed by the prosecutor's office against HDP lawmakers: Dirayet Tasdemir, Sibel Yigitalp, Caglar Demirel, Huda Kaya, Ayse Acar Basaran, Adem , Mithat Sancar, Ferhat Encu, Gulser Yildirim, Ibrahim Ayhan, Garo Paylan, Bedia Ozgokce Ertan, Meral Danis Bestas, Mahmut Togrul, Ertugrul Kurkcu, Mizgin Irgat, Saadet Becerekli, Nadir Yildirim and Ziya Pir.

The motions will be sent to the Justice Ministry, which will then submit it to the parliament.

The general assembly may then vote on whether the accused deputies should stand trial.

The government accuses HDP of being a political front for PKK, which has waged war against Turkey for more than 30 years.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey as well as the U.S. and the EU.