Deposed co-mayor of Sur faces up to 15 years in prison

Filiz Buluttekin, the imprisoned co-mayor of the Sur District in Amed, has been charged with terrorism. She faces up to 15 years imprisonment.

Charges have been brought against politician Filiz Buluttekin. The deposed co-mayor of the Sur district in Amed (Diyarbakir) is threatened with between seven and a half and fifteen years imprisonment.

Buluttekin was elected co-mayor for the old town of the metropolis of Amed in the local elections in Turkey on 31 March 2019 as a candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). On December 20, special units of the Turkish police stormed her apartment, held a gun to her head, threatened the ten-year-old child and finally arrested the politician. Three days later, a Turkish court in the city ordered her to be remanded in custody on charges of "membership of an armed terrorist organisation". Buluttekin was subsequently removed from office at the instigation of the Ministry of the Interior and replaced by a trustee appointed by the government.

The indictment by Diyarbakir Chief Prosecutor Office deals mainly with Buluttekin's political activities. Among other things, the politician is accused of her participation in a memorial event for Vedat Aydın. The provincial chairman of the HEP (People’s Labor Party) in Amed was kidnapped by the Turkish counter-guerrilla in 1991 and executed extralegally. Buluttekin "observed a minute's silence for Aydın” and according to the authority's opinion this constitutes a criminal offence.

Buluttekin is also accused of fictitious eulogies at funerals, possession of legal books, participation in election campaign events, demonstrations and rallies "at which slogans were raised in favour of Abdullah Öcalan and the PKK", participation in a workshop on the Kurdish language and protests against the appointment of trustees HDP-run municipalities, visits to HDP MP Leyla Güven and posts from her party's official account on Twitter. The indictment also partly consists of statements by the alleged key witness "Firar", who claims that Buluttekin received instructions from "members of the organisation" (meaning the PKK).

It is still unclear when the trial against the politician will begin.

25 mayors arrested

Last year, 25 mayors of the HDP were arrested and trustees have been appointed by the Turkish Ministry of the Interior to 38 municipalities in North Kurdistan. The HDP had won 65 municipalities in the local elections of March 31.