A court in Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır (Amed) province in southeast Turkey rejected Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP) MP Adalet Kaya’s application to have her foreign travel ban lifted, Mezopotamya Agency reported on Wednesday.
The court maintains that the travel ban does not hinder Kaya’s duties and activities as a member of the legislative branch of government.
The MP is facing charges of terrorism over attending demonstrations in the ongoing case, in spite of the requirement in Turkish law for a halt to legal proceedings when a suspect acquires parliamentary immunity via election.
The presiding judge in the case told Kaya’s lawyers that documents proving Kaya’s status as an MP had not reached the court.
Other members of the Rosa Women’s Association, where Kaya had been an activist before her election, had been acquitted of similar charges, while the association itself was cleared of accusations of terrorism in a separate case, Kaya’s lawyer Gözde Engin said.
The case from which the travel ban has arisen itself violates Kaya’s rights to participate in elections and conduct political activity, according to the defence team. On the same day as the hearing, Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled that the right to participate in elections had been violated in the case of another MP, Can Atalay, and his constituency, in the nearby province of Hatay.
The court will assess the application of the defence for a halt to proceedings while Kaya’s travel ban remains in place.
