DEM Party criticizes government: 'Security showcase for NATO while oppressing citizens'

DEM Party Deputy Group Chair Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit has strongly criticized the Turkish government's recent operations in Ankara, which she claims are being conducted under the pretext of the NATO summit. Koçyiğit stated that the true purpose of these operations has become evident through recent decisions, which have led to the detention of 225 people, with 103 subsequently arrested and 26 placed under judicial control.

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The government is presenting a 'security showcase' to NATO while imposing a regime of pressure, detention, and arrest on its own citizens.

"The government is presenting a 'security showcase' to NATO while imposing a regime of pressure, detention, and arrest on its own citizens," Koçyiğit declared on social media. She argued that individuals exercising their right to democratic protest, expressing their thoughts, and calling for peace are being criminalized. Koçyiğit asserted that the legal system is being manipulated to serve political directives.

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Democratic protest rights holders, those expressing their thoughts, and those raising the demand for peace are being criminalized; law is being made an instrument of political instructions.

Describing the detentions, Koçyiğit reported that doors were broken down in home raids, and individuals were detained at gunpoint, with allegations of ill-treatment and the use of excessive force, including handcuffed arrests. She also noted that lawyers were denied access to case files, effectively obstructing the right to defense. "Now, as a continuation of this unlawful process, arrests are being made to intimidate society," she added.

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We state clearly: These decisions are not legal, but political. They are the product of fear politics, not justice.

"We state clearly: These decisions are not legal, but political. They are the product of fear politics, not justice," Koçyiğit asserted. She emphasized that a country's security cannot be achieved by silencing its citizens, emptying public squares, or imprisoning young people, workers, and those exercising their democratic rights. The DEM Party official called on the government to return to the Constitution, universal principles of law, human rights, and democratic values, warning that the demand for democracy and the struggle for freedom cannot be imprisoned.

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A country's security cannot be achieved by silencing its citizens, emptying the squares, and sending young people, workers, and people using their democratic rights to prison.