Parliament Speaker Şentop slams HDP deputy for posing with PKK

PARLIAMENT Speaker Mustafa Şentop on Monday blasted a proPKK Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker who posed in photos with a member of the PKK terrorist group.

“Those who work under the roof of the Turkish Grand National Assembly must draw a clear line between themselves and terrorism. If this is not done, the law, constitution and bylaws must be followed,” Şentop told journalists outside parliament.

Photos of HDP lawmaker Semra Güzel with PKK terrorist Volkan Bora were widely circulated in Turkish media on Sunday.

Bora was killed by Turkish security forces in the southeastern Adıyaman province in 2017.

Şentop demanded that Güzel’s legislative immunity from prosecution be revoked, adding: “In terms of crimes against the constitutional order, I believe that the immunity in cases involving serious crimes should be lifted and the way to trial should be paved.”

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairperson Devlet Bahçeli also said yesterday that his party does not want terrorists in Parliament, in response to the photos of the HDP deputy with a terrorist.

Speaking at his party’s parliamentary group meeting in the capital Ankara, Bahçeli said they do not want to see terrorists in Parliament.

“We cannot tolerate seeing the HDP in Turkey’s political and democratic sphere, not even for a second,” he said, adding that they expect the Constitutional Court to take action.

Bahçeli’s criticism came after intimate photos of HDP Diyarbakır deputy Semra Güzel with a PKK terrorist in northern Iraq came to light.

He continued by noting that the HDP chooses to side with terrorists who open fire on Turkish soldiers and then tries to preach lessons on democracy, freedoms, human rights and peace “with no shame.”

He also strongly criticized politicians from the opposition-led Nation Alliance, who fail to condemn PKK terrorism without referring to the terrorist group, calling them insincere in their criticism.

“If you say the PKK planted bombs and detonated them, you only become human, you only become ethical and honest,” he added.

The HDP has been accused of having close ideological and political links with the PKK terrorist organization, which was founded in 1978 and has been conducting terrorist attacks against the state since 1984. As a result of PKK terrorism, nearly 40,000 people have been killed in more than three decades. The HDP is currently facing a closure case for its ties to the terrorist group.