HDP Izmir MP Ertugrul Kürkçü spoke at the PACE session dedicated to the State of Emergency Erdogan’s government has extended for the 7th time last week, just before announcing the country will held early elections on 24 June.

Kürkçü thanked “Mr. Raphael Comte for his outspoken and firmly evidenced report on the ongoing Emergency Case rule in Turkey which has lost all relevancy with and legitimacy if it had any for the attempted coup of 15 July 2016”. 

He then underlined that the HDP together with the opposition party CHP, had voted against the declaration of state of emergency after the 15 July 2016 failed coup.

Kürkçü said: “Parliamentary opposition parties HDP -my party-and main opposition CHP had voted against declaration of a state of emergency at the date, and staunchly opposed derogations from Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights which we believed would award the Erdoğan regime with the power and opportunity to undermine all democratic institutions and erode remnants of the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary in particular. I would like to recall Erdoğan's summarization of the meaning of the 15 July failed coup: “This is a gift from the God for us!”

The Izmir HDP MP added that: “Erdoğan and his allies worked hard to deserve this “gift”. It is still unclear where, and when and how and by what means Erdoğan and his aides were informed of the coup preparations and how and through which mechanisms they decided to react the coup. According to analysts, witnesses, documents leaked from the prosecutors’ offices, and inconsistencies of the Erdoğan's personal narrative of the attempted coup, Erdoğan regime was well informed of the coup preparations which they initially and informally related to the Gülen Sect's expected reaction against the liquidation of pro-Gülen army officials, judges and police officers. It is highly symptomatic in this sense that, 2 thousand 735 judges were sacked from office 16 July early morning. How come the government could have targeted thousands of judges for a military coup attempt they claim they were unaware until it started to operate? It is also highly symptomatic that, the AKP majority have barred the Parliamentary inquiry commission question all major responsible political and military personalities in order to lay out an impartial narrative of the coup and of the roles played by major actors: The Gülen movement, Erdoğan and his Party, the Army, the Police, the Judiciary, etc.”

Therefore, said Kürkçü “the emergency case rule in Turkey, appears not only as a reaction by the government against an abortive coup but it is an expected and engineered state of affairs; a leverage to be exploited in order to lay down the foundations of an emergency case state”.

The Izmir HDP MP asked the Assembly to “take note that, last week emergency case rule in Turkey is prolonged for a seventh three-month period. During these 18 months Turkish government has used the draconian powers granted under the emergency case rule for bypassing the parliament and issuing decrees for every purpose: From education to tourism, from prison regulations to export regulations! Under emergency case rule Turkey has been transformed into an emergency case state” and appealed to the Assembly to “keep its eyes on Turkey during the 24 June elections where the faith of the country would be decided”.