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Figen Yuksekdag charged with insulting the president

FORMER co-leader of the Turkish opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Figen Yuksekdag faced charges of “insulting the president” today, after defending journalists who exposed alleged government links with terrorists in 2015.

HDP officials told the Star that Ms Yuksekdag was “forcibly taken by guards from her cell to the SEGBIS [video conference] for the hearing,” which took place in Istanbul.

She was accused of insulting Turkey’s authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for signing a joint statement defending Cumhuriyet journalists Can Dundar and Erdem Gul for publishing details of alleged government arm shipments to jihadist groups in Syria.

The pair were detained after the 2015 report exposed evidence of a truck loaded with weapons understood to belong to the Turkish intelligence service (MIT) being stopped near the Syrian border.

It is alleged that, after being held for a while by the gendarmes, the truck was then allowed to cross the border after government intervention.

Following the expose, Mr Erdogan raged on state television that those responsible for the story had exposed state secrets, accusing the journalists of espionage.

“The person who wrote this story will pay a heavy price for it. I won’t let him go unpunished,” he promised.

The statement, signed by Ms Yuksekdag and co-leader Selahattin Demirtas, defended the pair, saying: "In Turkey, freedom of thought and expression, freedom of the press and the public's intelligence are being chewed and trampled on every day.”

It accused the Turkish state of colluding in a cover-up to hide the sources of financial and moral aid, logistical support, weapons to terror groups, including al-Qaida, al-Nusra and Isis.

Ms Yuksekdag’s lawyer Ruken Gulagaci condemned the arrest and demanded her acquittal, warning Mr Erdogan should not be above criticism. The judge referred the case to Turkey’s Supreme Court.

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