Erdoğan’s ultranationalist ally Bahçeli targets jailed journalist Yanardağ

Far-right ruling coalition partner MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli has targeted jailed journalist Merdan Yanardağ and argued praising “the baby killer” is a “crime.” Yanardağ was arrested over his remarks criticizing the contact ban imposed upon jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Tuesday July 04 2023 02:12 pm

Duvar English

Ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli on July 4 targeted jailed journalist Merdan Yanardağ.

Speaking at the parliamentary group meeting of his party, Bahçeli said “It is a crime to praise the baby killer and raise him to the level of a philosopher. It is a crime to acquit those who fired bullets at our soldiers.”

Bahçeli also targeted the Constitutional Court (AYM) once again and said that it is not the court’s authority to “justify Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).”

“Political parties must comply with the Constitution and laws. Condolences to terrorists is a crime. The Constitutional Court is not the court of Kandil,” Bahçeli said following the AYM rejecting the Court of Cassation’s request to block Treasury aid paid to the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) over not entering the 2023 parliamentary elections.

During a live broadcast on Tele1, Yanardağ on June 20 said the contact ban and isolation imposed upon Öcalan should be lifted and added that “Abdullah Öcalan is over 70 years old, it has been a long time since he has been in jail, 25 years without interruption. He is the longest serving political prisoner in Turkey. If normal execution laws apply, he should actually be released, in a house arrest etc. The isolation imposed upon Abdullah Öcalan has no place in law. It has to be lifted.”

A Turkish court on June 27 arrested journalist Merdan Yanardağ as part of an investigation on the grounds of “praising the crime and the criminal” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.”

In his testimony, Yanardağ said “I don't think it's a crime to talk about isolation. Even if it is assumed that it is a crime, I stated that even if a solution process is to be initiated, everyone should know the extent of it. I said, ‘Abdullah Öcalan is used by politicians as a method of politics. If that's the case, lift the isolation, let's find out what he said. Let him talk to his lawyers and his family, and we'll find out,’ (during live broadcast).”

PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan has been kept in isolation for 24 years in F Type High-Security Prison on İmralı Island in Bursa. The jailed PKK leader last had a brief phone call with his brother on March 25, 2021. Since the interrupted phone call, no information has been received from Öcalan as well as other prisoners on the island (Hamili Yıldırım, Veysi Aktaş, and Ömer Hayri Konar). Their lawyers have also been prevented from meeting the prisoners.