Kılıçdaroğlu had said 'I have no regrets regarding Demirtaş', now issues a new statement: I will seek justice for him

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who stated that he does not regret the vote he cast for the lifting of the immunity of imprisoned former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, issued a statement following the reactions.

“We said 'Yes' at that time to break the government's perception operation and the political trap it had set, and to show that all members of parliament had nothing to fear from any crime,” said Kılıçdaroğlu, adding, “We bit the bullet, we took a risk; we prevented this nightmare and the dangerous polarization of the country.” Stating that he stands with Demirtaş, Can Atalay, and other Gezi prisoners, Kılıçdaroğlu said, “I want you to know that I will seek justice to the end for all our mayors who are unjustly imprisoned and for every single member of this nation.”

Kılıçdaroğlu included the following statements in his post:

“The process of lifting immunities, the legal struggle we waged, and the facts that are being distorted with false information;

In the face of the unfair criticisms and the perceptions being created recently regarding the past process of lifting parliamentary immunities, it has become a necessity to share the facts with our people with the same clarity as on the first day.

As a politician who currently has no immunity whatsoever and is being tried with dozens of years of imprisonment in many cases filed by Erdoğan, and who has already been sentenced in some of them, I say again; I do not find any immunity correct other than parliamentary speech immunity.

The fact that our 22nd Term deputies and candidate nominees declared before a notary that they would not benefit from the immunity privilege granted to them is also an indication of our perspective on the issue.

During the process of lifting immunities in 2016, the AKP wanted to carry out constitutional amendments by taking them to a referendum. This was an intention to cast a nightmare over the country. We bit the bullet, we took a risk; we prevented this nightmare and the dangerous polarization of the country.

Our numerical majority only allowed for this. Our fellow deputies of that period are witnesses to every step.

We said 'Yes' at that time to break the government's perception operation and the political trap it had set, and to show that all members of parliament had nothing to fear from any crime.

Contrary to what is claimed, this decision was not a political sin or a surrender; it was a move to take the biggest propaganda weapon in the government's hands away from it.

Moreover, according to the constitutional and legal process of that day, a politician whose immunity was lifted was supposed to be tried without arrest, and if a sentence was finalized after the trial, the necessary action was to be taken. However, the government used the judiciary as a stick, violating the legal process and universal principles of law; it detained and arrested the deputies in a rush.

The one that should be blamed here is not the opposition, but the Palace regime that slaughtered the law.

One of the people who knows the behind-the-scenes, the legal dimension, and the political climate of that day best is Mr. Selahattin Demirtaş. From the very first day, we have raised the loudest voice against the unjust and unlawful imprisonment of Mr. Demirtaş and all political prisoners; we have always fought in the front lines in the squares, in the parliamentary halls, and during the Justice March for the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights rulings and for Demirtaş's freedom.

As such, at the point reached today, the attitudes of some people who both ignore this great legal struggle and sit at the negotiating table with the Erdoğan administration under the table, and who claim to be a companion of Mr. Demirtaş, are a complete inconsistency.

While we remained on the ground of law by breaking the traps set in the past, the politicians and journalists who are processing the immunity issue—which is one of Erdoğan's games to divide the opposition today—in the public opinion with lies and misinformation are serving the government, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

We have neither a sin against our people nor have we deviated a millimeter from our Justice March! As in the past, we are determined today to continue fighting against both the Palace regime and those who try to weaken the democratic opposition by cooperating with it, without compromising our principled stance.

I declare once again from here:

I want you to know that I will seek justice to the end for Mr. Demirtaş, Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Can Atalay, the Gezi prisoners, all our mayors who are unjustly imprisoned, and every single member of this nation.

Until there is not a single injustice or a single oppressed person left in this country; we will continue to say justice for everyone, law for everyone, with persistence and determination!“