June 06, 2017•Update: June 06, 2017
By Serdar Acil
ANKARA
An ex-leader of Turkey’s opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) was sentenced on Tuesday to one year and six months in prison, according to judicial sources.
The 17th Heavy Penal Court in Ankara gave Figen Yuksekdag the sentence after convicting her of promoting terrorism, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
According to the indictment, in a 2015 interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Yuksekdag spoke about the PKK, the terror organization which has taken tens of thousands of lives in Turkey in a decades-long terrorist campaign.
She characterized the PKK as a “national liberation movement … that stands for democracy and equality,” adding by claiming that the PKK’s “policies are not terrorist policies.”
This February Yuksekdag was also removed from her seat in parliament after a court upheld her initial conviction on terrorism charges from last September.
In line with the Constitution, she also became ineligible for party political membership after the court upheld the sentence, said the sources.
Yuksekdag was elected as a deputy for the eastern province of Van in November 2015.
She was detained in November 2016 along with 13 other HDP lawmakers on terrorism-related charges.
Ten of them, including another party leader, Selahattin Demirtas, remain in custody pending trial.
The lawmakers began facing prosecution under anti-terrorism legislation after their parliamentary immunity was lifted in March 2016.
Turkey’s government accuses the HDP of being linked to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.
In PKK's over three-decade terror campaign against Turkey, more than 40,000 people have lost their lives.
Since the PKK resumed its armed campaign in July 2015, it has been responsible for the deaths of around 1,200 people, including women and children.
