DEM Party's harsh reaction to Mehmet Uçum: 'You cannot deny it'
The DEM Party has issued a harsh response to Chief Advisor to the President Mehmet Uçum's statement that "there are no political prisoners in Turkey." DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan stated, "It is as if there is law, as if people are not in prison because of their thoughts and beliefs, as if there is democracy. We are told not to call them political prisoners. In a way, he is actually right; should we call them political hostages instead?"
12punto
Harsh responses have come from the DEM Party to the statement made by Chief Advisor to the President Mehmet Uçum on social media, where he claimed, "There are no political prisoners in Turkey." In his post, Uçum opposed the use of the term "political prisoner," stating, "You cannot portray the guilty as innocent. You cannot make a hero out of someone who commits corruption, nor a victim out of someone who collaborates with terrorism."
DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan reacted to Uçum's statements during his speech at the Democratic Local Governments Mid-Term Meeting held in Diyarbakır. Bakırhan said, "We call an advisor an advisor. We also call Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ political prisoners." Bakırhan continued, "It is as if there is law, as if people are not in prison because of their thoughts and beliefs, as if there is democracy. We are told not to call them political prisoners. In a way, he is actually right; should we call them political hostages instead?"
DEM Party Deputy Co-Chair Tayyip Temel also reacted to Uçum's statements, saying, "This is either great ignorance or a pure denial of the truth." Temel stated that Uçum's criticism of the term "political prisoner" regarding certain individuals in prisons is unlawful and ideological.