Imprisoned former HDP Co-chair Figen Yuksekdag was issued an 18 month sentence by the Ankara Heavy Penal Court No.13, and the sentence has now been approved by the Ankara Regional Court of Justice Criminal Division No.20.

An interview Yuksekdag gave to Deutsche Welle in 2015 was cited in a criminal case almost exactly 2 years later on June 6, 2017. Yuksekdag was charged with terrorist propaganda.

“PKK IS A FREEDOM MOVEMENT”

Yuksekdag had said the following in the interview in question:

“We as the HDP have no ties with the PKK. There must be evidence for this, otherwise the allegations are too ridiculous. We won 13% of the vote in the parliamentary elections. During 2 months of campaigning, 7 HDP members were killed. Their murderers have yet to face justice. The people who were killed were not fighting alongside the PKK with guns in their hands. The PKK is a popular freedom movement. It is an organization that struggles for democracy and equality. We don’t approve of the methods the PKK uses to meet these ends, but we must acknowledge that the program they implement is not terrorism."