Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), part of the ruling ‘People’s Alliance’ in Turkey, made accusations against those who recently took part in a protest against the severe isolation imposed upon Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“It’s pure villainy that a bunch, HDP’s separatist deputies among them, marched in Istanbul’s Kadıköy, littering our streets, and calling for the release of the murderer of İmralı,” Bahçeli said.
“No one who attacks soldiers, police and innocent citizens, who conspires to destroy social harmony and peace within the country, who throws insults at virtually everyone around them, can be a member of this nation.”
However, hours before he started delivering his accusations in front of an MHP parliamentary group in the Turkish parliament, all the the protesters who were detained on Sunday and who were denied access to their lawyers, were released without charge, except for two who remained in custody.
Two arrests were made on the charge of resisting police.
Öcalan’s isolation
A ban on legal visits to Abdullah Öcalan was extended for a further six months in May. The last time Öcalan’s lawyers were able to contact him was three years ago, in August 2019.
An application for a family visit was rejected on 29 March, the 10th in a series of such rejections since 2018.
