CHP deputy Tanrıkulu slams internet cuts in eastern, southeastern Turkey

DİYARBAKIR

DHA Photo

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu has slammed the internet outages in Turkey’s east and southeast, which started after the detention of the co-mayors of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. 

“I’m in Diyarbakır. The internet connection has been cut off in eight provinces for three days. Life has stopped. This meaningless collective punishment must end immediately,” Tanrıkulu wrote on his Twitter account on Oct. 28, after delivering a press statement on the issue. 

“They shut down alternative media, but this wasn’t enough for them. Now they’ve cut the internet in the region. But you can’t hide the truth no matter what you do,” he added.

“We are receiving intense complaints on internet outages from the region. The internet is not just a means of communicating, but also a part of our lives. Hospitals and courthouses cannot function. Life has stopped. There is absolute unlawfulness, it’s like [the region is] being discarded,” Tanrıkulu also said at a press conference, adding that the detention of “elected mayors should not be accepted in any democracy.”

“[Gültan Kışanak and Fırat Anlı] are both democratic politicians who have been involved in democratic politics for many years. They stand against violence,” he said. 

Meanwhile, an investigation has been launched against Selahattin Demirtaş, the co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), after a speech he delivered at the Diyarbakır municipality on Oct. 27, on several charges including “praising crime and the criminal” and “provoking people to not follow the law.”  

“Our friends will take the streets in 81 provinces,” Demirtaş had said, adding that they will use their right to democratic action until the co-mayors Kışanak and Anlı are freed. 

“If you prove that a single dime of the municipality was sent to the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party], we will resign as well as Kışanak and Anlı,” he added.

Kışanak and Anlı were detained late on Oct. 25 on “terrorism” charges. Kışanak, a former member of parliament before her election as mayor in Diyarbakır, and Anlı, her co-mayor and a member of the municipal council, were taken into custody as part of an investigation into their alleged links to the PKK.