Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was detained in parliament early this morning. He was later released after being questioned in a police station.
After being stripped of his parliamentary seat and immunity, Gergerlioğlu said he would not accept the decision and launched a sit-in action in the Turkish parliament. Today police forcibly detained him before his morning prayer.
While being detained, Gergerlioğlu said, “We witnessed these scenes in the 90s as well. Unfortunately nothing has changed in this country since ’94. I am being detained as I am going to the bathroom”.
After his release, It was reported that Gergerlioğlu was detained due to his sit-in Turkish parliamentary and his action.
Gergerlioğlu said after his release , “A quite immoral detention was carried out. Chair of the parliamentary organised it. (Devlet) Bahçeli gave the order, and It was fulfilled immediately. There has been no administration in the country anymore. Neither an administration, nor a parliamentary speaker’s office. The speaker’s office is busy with stripping a deputy of his parliamentary seat by instruction of some people.”
The HDP Press Office made a statement regarding the detention, saying, “After he was taken out of the bathroom, though Gergerlioğlu said ‘let me pray, change my clothes and then we go’, police detained him”.
The statement continued: “Our deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was detained at around 6.30am. After he entered the bathroom to prepare for his morning prayer, around 100 police officers came into the building. After Gergerlioğlu was taken out of the bathroom, though Gergerlioğlu said ‘let me pray, change my clothes and then we go’, police detained him. Despite objections from our deputies Filiz Kerestecioğlu and Hüseyin Kaçmaz, Gergerlioğlu was forcibly taken away while he was in his pyjamas and slippers”.
Reactions on social media
The incident has become a trending topic on Twitter. Thousands of posts were shared with the hashtag #HalkınVekiliGözaltında (people’s deputy under detention).
Türkiye halklarını, tüm ezilenlerin yüreği Meclis’teki Adalet Nöbetimizdeydi. İktidar ve ortağı bu sevgiye, bu güvene tahammül edemedi. Talimatla, yalan tutanakla, oy uğruna yapılanları Türkiye halkları unutmaz. #HalkınVekiliGözaltında pic.twitter.com/K8JSDUE3OF
— DEM Parti (@DEMGenelMerkezi) March 21, 2021
HDP Central Office also shared a social media post, “All peoples and oppressed hearts were with the Justice Watch in parliament. The state could not tolerate such compassion and confidence… #HalkınVekiliGözaltında”.