Women in solidarity with HDP MP Semra Güzel

The Women’s Council of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the Free Women’s Movement (TJA) stand in solidarity with the Kurdish politician Semra Güzel, who is expected to be stripped of her parliamentary immunity next week. Following the parliamentary preparatory committee, the joint committee consisting of members of the constitutional and judicial committees also approved the withdrawal of immunity on Thursday with the votes of the AKP, CHP, MHP and IYI party.

The HDP Women’s Council and the TJA stated: “Semra Güzel represents our political will. We appeal to all women to dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to women’s struggle; defending Semra means defending women in politics and the women’s struggle as a whole.”

Against this background, demonstrations have taken place in numerous cities in Turkey. A rally in Istanbul was besieged by a large police contingent. HDP MP Züleyha Gülüm said in a speech that the matter went beyond her parliamentary group colleague Semra Güzel. She said a wave of attacks by the police, judiciary and media was underway against the HDP because the government was afraid of all struggling peoples. “The murder of our friend Deniz Poyraz in Izmir and the imminent revocation of the immunity of our MP Semra Güzel are not independent of each other. We know very well that the government is afraid of the struggle of the peoples, the Kurdish people, Kurdish women and the HDP as a whole. It is clear to the government that it is no longer wanted and will lose power,” said Züleyha Gülüm, and noted that behind the defamation campaign against Semra Güzel is the fact that the Kurdish question should not be solved.

Semra Güzel is facing a prison sentence for treason and terrorism. The groundwork for this was laid by an elaborate and state-directed defamation campaign against the Kurdish politician and doctor. The starting point were photos showing Güzel with the guerrilla fighter Volkan Bora (Nom de Guerre: Koçero Meletî). The photos were taken in a guerrilla camp in southern Kurdistan in 2014, when a delegation of the HDP visited the PKK with state knowledge as part of the peace process to discuss further steps towards de-escalation.

The guerrilla fighter Volkan Bora, who died in April 2017 in Turkish air strikes in the Adıyaman province, was Güzel’s former fiancé. From the pictures with him, the prosecution constructs accusations such as “membership in a terrorist organisation” and “financing terrorism” against the politician. Allegedly, Güzel had visited PKK camps in Southern Kurdistan several times even after fighting had resumed. The HDP said that the defamation campaign was a propaganda manoeuvre in the course of the proceedings to ban the party. If Güzel is convicted, she faces many years in prison.