Prosecutors Seek Charges Against 26 HDP Executives for ‘Offending Turkish State’ After Calling for Armenian Genocide Recognition

ANKARA — The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has prepared a summary of proceedings to investigate the members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Central Executive Committee over their remarks on the Armenian Genocide.

The prosecutors request permission from the Ministry of Justice to investigate the politicians for “insulting the Turkish nation and the state” as per article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.

Investigations under article 301 are subject to the justice minister’s permission.

The HDP had released a statement on April 24 Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

The statement “put the Turkish nation and the State of the Republic of Turkey under suspicion before history,” according to the summary of proceedings.

Citing a 1948 UN convention, the prosecutors said the word “genocide” cannot be used to describe “tragic events before this date” and the genocide claims are false.

Nine of the 10 pages of the summary of proceedings lists the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) statements about freedom of expression, according to a report by the T24 news portal.

The ECtHR had previously ruled that it was freedom of expression to say that the events in 1915 were not a genocide, noted the prosecutors.

No political party in the parliament can do “action against the nation,” they argued.