The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Having before it the cases of the above-mentioned parliamentarians of Turkey, elected in the June 2011 parliamentary elections, which has been examined by the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, pursuant to its Procedure for the treatment by the Inter-Parliamentary Union of communications concerning violations of the human rights of members of parliament,

Taking into account the information provided by the Turkish delegation, led by the President of the Turkish IPU Group, to the 127th IPU Assembly (Quebec, October 2012) on the occasion of a hearing with the Committee and the latest communications from the President of the Turkish IPU Group; also taking into account the information provided by the sources in these cases,

Recalling that Mr. Balbay and Mr. Haberal were elected on the list of the Republican People’s Party, Mr. Alan on the list of the National Action Party and the six others as members of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, that the persons in question were all certified by the Supreme Election Board (YSK) while in detention as eligible candidates for the legislative elections, and that, once elected, their petitions for release to enable them to take up their parliamentary duties were rejected by the competent courts,

Considering the following information on file on their individual situations:

• Regarding Mr. Balbay:
  Mr. Balbay was reportedly arrested at the beginning of 2009 and is being prosecuted on charges of being a member of an organization, Ergenekon, conspiring to destabilize and overthrow the ruling Justice and Development Party. The source affirms that he was the Ankara correspondent for Cumhuriyet, a long-running daily in Turkey, that he was a well-known critic of the government, and that he had been briefly detained in July 2008. Although he stopped working at the newspaper, the source affirms that he continued to criticize the government and was again arrested in 2009 on the grounds that the police had recovered previously deleted data in the computer seized during his first arrest. According to the source, the information obtained is nothing more than journalistic notes, which Mr. Balbay had already published in his books.
• Regarding Mr. Haberal:
  Mr. Haberal was reportedly arrested around the same time as Mr. Balbay and faces the same charges. According to the source, Mr. Haberal is a physician and is well-known for his social work. It affirms that the prosecutor accuses him of using his meetings to discuss plans to overthrow the government. According to the source, these meetings were no more than brain-storming exercises attended by politicians, including two MPs from the governing party, and civil servants. 
• Regarding Mr. Alan:
  Mr. Alan was prosecuted as part of the “Sledgehammer case”, which is the name of an alleged Turkish secularist military coup plan reportedly dating back to 2003. A judgement was handed down in this case on 21 September 2012. Mr. Alan was convicted and sentenced to a prison term of 18 years. 
• Regarding Ms. Yildirim, Mr. Ayhan, Mr. Aktas, Ms. Irmak and Mr. Sariyildiz:
  The five independent parliamentarians are all being prosecuted for crimes against the constitutional order, in particular membership of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), said to be the urban wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). They were reportedly arrested between December 2009 and April 2010, with the exception of Mr. Ayhan, who was arrested in October 2010.
• Regarding Mr. Dicle:
  • Mr. Dicle has been in detention since December 2009 in relation to the KCK case.
  • He was convicted and sentenced in 2009 at first instance to a prison sentence of one year and eight months, pursuant to Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law, in connection with a statement he made to the ANKA news agency in October 2007 with respect to the unilateral ceasefire declared by the PKK in 2006 and to the subsequent reportedly intensified attacks by the army. Mr. Dicle reportedly stated, “… this ceasefire has become invalid. The PKK will use its legitimate right of defence unless the army stops the operations.”

  • The Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the judgement on 22 March 2011. After registering the criminal record, the ruling was submitted to the YSK on 9 June 2011. The President of the Turkish IPU Group affirms that, at that point, under the Electoral Law, the YSK was no longer in a position to make any changes to the final list of candidates for the elections, which explains why it was possible for Mr. Dicle to stand for election but his election subsequently invalidated.

  • Mr. Dicle, whose seat has been attributed to a member of the ruling party, has submitted a petition to the European Court of Human Rights alleging that his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights have been violated,

Also recalling that the source affirms that some of the evidence against the accused has been fabricated by the investigators, that most of the detentions are based on unsigned anonymous letters and that the computers of the accused have been tampered with; further recalling that the source also affirms that all the persons who stand accused in these cases are known to be in opposition to the present government, that the government fully controls the Supreme Board for Judges and Prosecutors in charge of the judicial system, and that there is direct political interference in the cases,

Considering the following: according to the President of the Turkish IPU Group, the Ergenekon and Sledgehammercases have to be seen against the background of repeated interference, including coups d’état, by the military in national politics in the recent history of Turkey; the parliamentarians concerned were/are accused as part of extremely complex criminal cases concerning multiple suspects; the parliamentary human rights committee has visited the parliamentarians in detention, concluded that their conditions were appropriate, and adopted a report to this effect which can be made available; the Turkish parliament recently amended the criminal code of procedure with a view to expediting legal proceedings and facilitating the release of those standing accused in cases such as the ones at hand; however, the courts have refused to grant the parliamentarians provisional release on the grounds that the crimes of which they are accused are very serious and their release may jeopardize the collection of evidence,

Bearing in mind that Turkey is party to the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and is therefore bound to respect the right to freedom of expression, the right to liberty and the right to participate in political life,

1. Thanks the President of the Turkish IPU Group for her extensive cooperation;

2. Appreciates the fact that the Turkish parliament has taken an active interest in these cases and adopted legislation affording its members in preventive detention the opportunity to benefit from provisional release, thus enabling them to exercise the mandate entrusted to them by their constituents; is concerned, therefore, that the courts have not released the parliamentarians in question, all the more so as their detention is allegedly the result of unfounded legal proceedings and as some of them have already been deprived of their liberty for three years; trusts that a close analysis of the new legislation, of which the Turkish delegation has undertaken to provide a copy, will shed further light in this regard; would also appreciate receiving a copy of the relevant court decisions in this respect and of the ruling handed down on Mr. Alan;

3. Considers that, in the light of the complexity and seriousness of the cases at hand, an on-site mission would be timely and enable it to obtain first-hand information and thus acquire a better understanding of the precise charges, the facts adduced to substantiate them, the state of the investigations and proceedings and the prospects for the members in preventive detention to participate fully in the work of parliament; considers that this mission would also enhance its comprehension of the facts and legal grounds underpinning Mr. Dicle’s latest conviction, in particular in the light of earlier concerns it expressed in a case in which he and three others, Ms. Zana, Mr. Sadak and Mr. Dogan, were convicted on a similar charge and sentenced, after two mistrials, to a harsh prison term;

4. Is pleased, therefore, that the President of the Turkish IPU Group concurs that an on-site mission, which would meet with the parliamentary, executive and judicial authorities and the parliamentarians concerned, could be conducive to promoting such understanding, including with regard to the context in which the different criminal proceedings in these cases have to be seen;

5. Requests the Secretary General to arrange for the mission to take place as early as possible and to pursue his exchanges with the parliamentary authorities for this purpose; requests him also to convey a copy of this resolution to the sources; 

6. Requests the Committee to continue examining these cases and to report back to it in due course.

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