Turkish MP Arrested on Charges of Terrorism

A Turkish court has ruled to arrest Member of Parliament Semra Güzel on charges of terrorism, as reported by Reuters, citing Istanbul police and Güzel's lawyer.

Güzel was detained on Friday in Istanbul, and by the end of Saturday, the court decided to remand her in custody until the trial, the Istanbul police informed in accordance with the prosecutor's inquiry.

Güzel's lawyer, Veysi Eski, stated that the charges against Güzel are unfounded and described them as a continuation of the "political genocide actions" against the Peoples' Democratic Party.

“Visiting a camp of the Kurdistan Workers' Party is not a crime in itself related to membership in a terrorist organization,” Eski told Reuters.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced the arrest on Friday, stating that Güzel has been "caught."

“Our parliamentary member has been arrested in an improper manner. The government is turning this into propaganda material, using inappropriate and ugly expressions, indicating the helplessness of the ruling party,” the Peoples' Democratic Party stated in a release.

Member of the Peoples' Democratic Party, Semra Güzel, was stripped of her parliamentary immunity in March after a photo of her with a member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party dated several years back circulated in Turkish media. Subsequently, an arrest warrant was issued against her on charges of membership in a terrorist organization.

When the photos first emerged in January, Güzel stated that the individual was her fiancé and that the photos were taken during her visit to him during the peace process between the Turkish state and the PKK, which collapsed in 2015.

According to Güzel, the investigation against her, based on materials found after the assassination of her fiancé in 2017, began a year after her election to parliament.