Page 21 - TURKRptMay19

Asked on April 23 why he left the special session at the parliament for National Sovereignty and Children’s Day before HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan made his address, Erdogan said: “Why should I not? Shall I listen to those who don’t sing our National Anthem? Shall I listen to those who martyr my soldiers?,” Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Answering a question as to whether he had phoned Kilicdaroglu after the lynching attempt, Erdogan said he had already made his comment on the incident, and that there was no need for him to make a call.
On April 24, all nine people who were taken into custody in relation to the alleged lynching attempt were released. The last suspect released from detention was the person who punched Kilicdaroglu, bianet reported.
Bar association files complaint. On April 24, the Ankara Bar Association filed a complaint against Gunes for its story published on the same day Kilicdaroglu was subject to what it too saw as a lynching attempt, bianet reported.
The petition requested that Turgay Guler, the editor-in-chief of Gunes, those who attempted the claimed lynching of Kilicdaroglu, the instigators, and those who were determined by the prosecutor's office to have joined the attack be tried for "crimes against humanity" according to Article 77 of the Turkish Penal Code and for "provoking the people into hatred and animosity and insulting the people" according to the Turkish Penal Code Article 216.
The Bar Association said in the petition that the incident was "not momentary or coincidental".
"The incident was planned. What was lived through constitutes a crime against humanity. The crimes against humanity are defined in Article 77 of No. 5237, Turkish Penal Code, as systematically performing the mentioned acts against one part of society with political, philosophical, racial or religious motives.
"In this case, there is a political cause. Furthermore, the move was against a certain part of society based upon a plan and the motive was to obtain a particular result."
The association pointed to the Gunes headline as evidence for the attack being "planned and systematic".
21 TURKEY Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com