Turkish Supreme Court rejects opposition leader's case

By Ferdi Turkten

ANKARA

The co-leader of one of Turkey’s opposition parties was facing a 10-month prison sentence Wednesday after the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision to jail her for promoting terrorism.

Figen Yuksekdag, co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was convicted by a court in Adana, southern Turkey, after giving a speech at a graveside commemoration ceremony of Marxist–Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) terrorist Yasemin Ciftci, who was killed by a homemade bomb at her address in Istanbul in 2012.

The 7th Penal Court found Yuksekdag guilty of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization”. She appealed the decision but the Supreme Court agreed with the Adana court.

Yuksekdag’s lawyer, Sevil Araci Bek, said she could expect to serve seven-and-a-half months of her sentence.

The MLKP, founded in 1994, was listed as a terrorist organization in 2007. The group killed four people in a 2004 bombing of an Istanbul hotel.

Yuksekdag jointly heads the HDP with Selahattin Demirtas, who also faces prosecution under anti-terrorism laws after their parliamentary immunity was lifted earlier this year, along with other lawmakers from Turkey’s main political parties.