Operation against the elected: Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ remanded along with 6 MPs

The operation against the elected has begun.
The operation against the HDP has commenced under investigations being conducted by Diyarbakır, Van, Hakkari, Şırnak and Bingöl Republic Chief Prosecutions. HDP Co-Chair Figen Yüksekdağ was arrested at her Ankara home, as was the other Co-Chair, Selahattin Demirtaş, at his Diyarbakır home.
CO-CHAIRS REMANDED IN CUSTODY
Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ were remanded in custody by the court they were brought before.
SIX MP’S REMANDED
HDP Group Vice Chair İdris Baluken and members of parliament Nursel Aydoğan, Gülser Yıldırım, Leyla Birlik, Selma Irmak and Ferhat Encü were also remanded in custody by the courts to which they were sent with an application for remand.
THREE MP’S AT LIBERTY
Ziya Pir, arrested in the operation targeting the HDP, was released following interrogation by the prosecution subject to pre-trial conditions with a ban on travelling abroad imposed. With another arrested HDP Diyarbakır MP İmam Taşçıer also released, HDP Ankara MP Sırrı Sürreya Önder was released subject to pre-trial conditions.

THE PRISONS TO WHICH THE CO-CHAIRS HAVE BEEN TAKEN IS UNKNOWN

HDP Co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ and HDP Mardin MP Gülser Yıldırım, having been remanded by the Penal Court of the Peace where they were sent today as part of an investigation being conducted by Diyarbakır Republic Prosecution, were taken from the judicial complex at around 19.00 hours and transferred to Diyarbakır airport with high security measures in place. It has been learnt that, on security grounds, not even their lawyers have been told which prisons the co-chairs and MP have been sent to.

EIGHT HDP MP’S REMANDED
As far as the twelve arrestedHDP MPs are concerned, eight MPs, with the Group Vice Chair numbering among them, were remanded in custody following procedures conducted at the Diyarbakır, Hakkari, Bingöl and Şırnak judicial complexes. Three MPs, on the other hand, were released. Hakkari MP Abdullah Zeydan’s interrogation at the judicial complex is continuing.

WHICH MP’S WERE ARRESTED?
* Hakkari MPs: Abdullah Zeydan
The twelve MPs arrested in the operation against the HDP are said to have used a joint pre-prepared defence text.
MESSAGE FROM İDRİS BALUKEN: THE STRUGGLE WILL CONTINUE
As reported by Birgün, Baluken passed on the following message through the other Group Vice Chair, Çağlar Demirel, before being sent to jail: “The struggle will continue wherever we have a presence. We will escalate our struggle further with each day that passes and will continue to fight proclaiming ‘everywhere is a place of struggle for us’ along with all of the peoples of Turkey against the mindset that is blocking the advance of democratic politics in Turkey.”
Demirtaş: My people alone may interrogate me
It is learnt that HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, who was remanded by the court to which he was taken, said in his interrogation by the prosecution, “My people alone may interrogate me.”
An order was passed for HDP Van MP Tuğba Hezer Öztürk to be apprehended.

Here is Demirtaş’s first statement: My people alone may interrogate me:
THEY HAD MADE KNOWN THEIR INTENTION NOT TO ATTEND

The arrested HDP Co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ had announced, in line with a decision they had previously taken in June, that they would not attend at Ankara Republic Prosecution of their own volition to make statements.

PERVİN BULDAN: I HAVE YET TO BE ARRESTED
Pervin Buldan, alleged to have been arrested, spoke to our newspaper. Buldan said, “I have yet to be arrested.”

RAID ON YÜKSEKDAĞ'S HOME
A raid was conducted by police on HDP Co-Chair Figen Yüksekdağ’s home. The raid was said to have been staged at the home where Yüksekdağ stays in Ankara. The police intervened to halt live footage being broadcast over the internet by a press outlet that was filming the event.
HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş was arrested at his home. HDP Co-Chair Figen Yüksekdağ and Sırrı Süreyya Önder were arrested in Ankara, as were HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş and Aydoğan and Pir in Diyarbakır.

Comment from the Interior Ministry on the HDP operation
It was stated in a comment made by the Ministry of the Interior: “The apprehension of eleven MPs for them to be taken to the judicial authorities was carried out in execution of orders given by Diyarbakır, Şırnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingöl Republic Prosecutions to the relevant law enforcement units. Faysal Sarıyıldız and Tuğba Hezer, the subject of apprehension orders, were stated to be abroad.”