Protests held in many cities for Can Atalay: The Palace is pursuing a vendetta

The Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) protested in many parts of Turkey against the unlawful stripping of the parliamentary status of Gezi prisoner Can Atalay, who was elected as the party's deputy from Hatay, following the Court of Cassation ruling read by Bekir Bozdağ in Parliament.

CAN ATALAY PROTEST IN ISTANBUL

The protest was attended by CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik, Workers' Party of Turkey officials, Left Party PM member Alper Taş, Şişli Mayoral candidate Emrah Şahan, District Chair Tamer Özcanlı, Kadıköy District Chair Ali Narin, Kadıköy Mayor Şerdıl Dara Odabaşı, and Mayoral candidate Barış Antik. Many democratic mass organizations also participated in the protest.

CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik delivered a speech at the demonstration.

In his statement, Çelik said, "This is a call to all Istanbulites who believe in the constitutional order! We are raising our voices together against the unlawful stripping of Hatay Deputy Can Atalay's parliamentary status!"

"THE PALACE HAS DE FACTO ABOLISHED THE CONSTITUTION"

The statement made by TİP included the following:

"Despite the Constitutional Court issuing two rulings of rights violations, the parliamentary status of our Hatay Deputy Can Atalay was stripped through the unlawful reading of the Court of Cassation's coup-related ruling in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM).

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey has been made a partner in the coup attempt carried out by the Court of Cassation!

The Palace has disregarded the will of the earthquake-stricken people of Hatay; above all, it has de facto abolished the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey! We are starting over again today. We will not be intimidated, we will not give up! Can Atalay will regain his freedom, and the people of Hatay will regain their deputy."

ANKARA

The TİP Ankara Provincial Organization protested the stripping of Atalay's parliamentary status on Sakarya Street this evening. Opposition parties and leftist organizations also supported TİP's protest.

Ankara Provincial Secretary Ece Duru, who read TİP's statement, said:

"While Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş was abroad, the unlawful ruling given by the Court of Cassation regarding our Hatay Deputy Can Atalay was read from the parliamentary podium by AKP Deputy Speaker Bekir Bozdağ, and the TBMM has signed a decision today that ignores the will of the people of Hatay, stripping Can Atalay of his parliamentary status. Atalay, one of the most beautiful children of Gezi, was nominated as a deputy candidate by our party in the May 14 general elections, and it was accepted by the Supreme Election Council (YSK) that Can could be a deputy. The people of Hatay expressed their will by electing Can Atalay as a deputy, and Can was issued his parliamentary mandate. When deputies were called to the podium to take their oaths in Parliament, Can Atalay's name was read as a Hatay Deputy, and Can Atalay was nominated by our party for the Parliament Speakership. Can Atalay's candidacy for Parliament Speaker was accepted, and furthermore, with the unanimous vote of all parties in the TBMM, Can Atalay became a member of the TBMM Human Rights Investigation Commission.

Therefore, there is no doubt that Can Atalay acquired the status of a deputy. Despite all this, as a result of the application made to the Constitutional Court regarding the failure to release Can Atalay, the Constitutional Court decided that Can Atalay should be released immediately. Although the decision was sent to the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court, the court did not fulfill the requirements of the decision and sent the file to the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation. The 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation, continuing to not recognize the Constitution, signed a text that cannot even be called a legal decision, ignoring the Constitutional Court's ruling. Following this illegality, another application was made to the Constitutional Court, and this time the Constitutional Court unanimously decided that the file should be sent to the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court, which is the competent and authorized court, and that Can Atalay should be released immediately.

Today, the TBMM has become a partner in this coup attempt carried out by the Court of Cassation. The constitutional provision that Constitutional Court rulings are binding and bind all judicial institutions was first de facto abolished by the Court of Cassation and then by the TBMM. It has been registered by the TBMM that there is no longer a constitution in Turkey and that constitutional guarantees have been eliminated. Do not think that we will be intimidated or give up. We are starting over today. We are addressing those who had even the slightest share in the making of this unlawful decision, those who have their signatures under the decision. If you think you can tarnish the Gezi Resistance, which is one of the brightest pages in this country's history, you are mistaken. You will definitely be held accountable for disregarding the will of the people of Hatay, whom you have condemned to death. We are greater than the palace, the governments, and the bosses. That is why we have to come together again and fight again. Can Atalay will sooner or later come out from between those four walls where he is held captive and reunite with the people of Hatay."

"THE POLITICAL POWER HAS VERY CLEARLY ADMITTED THAT THIS COUNTRY HAS NO CONSTITUTION"

TİP Ankara Provincial Chair Fırat Çoban also spoke as follows:

"We are witnessing a new black stain in the history of this country. The political power has very clearly admitted that this country has no constitution. We warned them many times before, we said that if there is no Constitution, there is no government, no President, and no Parliament, but they did not listen to us. As of today, we have a reality: no matter what decision they have made, Can Atalay is the deputy of the people of Hatay. This parliamentary status was won by the efforts of the people of Hatay themselves, stitch by stitch, through the struggle of a people who emerged from under the rubble. Neither the decisions made by gangs that have occupied the legal circles of this country, nor the decisions read by those who were slaves to the Fethullahists yesterday and to the palace today, will change this reality. Can is the deputy of the people of Hatay.

We have to take on that parliamentary duty that they did not let Can perform. We are obliged to organize the oppressed, the laborers, and the women in the factories, universities, and streets of this country just like Can. Just as we did in May, we are obliged to instill that fear in the palace dwellers and those who do not recognize the constitution of this country once again."

"IF YOU WANT TO RULE THIS COUNTRY LIKE HITLER, YOU MUST BE PREPARED FOR YOUR END TO BE LIKE HITLER'S"

EMEP Istanbul Deputy İskender Bayhan, who supported TİP's protest, expressed the following:

"First, by not recognizing the Constitutional Court's ruling, the capital's palace power gave a message: 'This order is an order where the palace can trample even its own constitution according to its own needs, and can play with that constitution as it wishes with its own lawsuit claims.' Today, it gave another message in Parliament, saying: 'We are not managing this Parliament for the people, we are managing this Parliament for the interests of big capital, therefore we will continue to operate it that way from now on.' If you want to rule this country like Hitler, you must be prepared for your end to be like Hitler's."

ERKOL: NO ONE CAN HIDE BEHIND THIS DECISION THAT DOES NOT FIT INTO LAW OR CONSCIENCE

CHP Ankara Provincial Chair Ümit Erkol spoke as follows:

"No one can hide behind this decision that does not fit into law or conscience. We will sooner or later put a stop to the palace power that continues to destroy the Constitution and destroy our unity and peace in the country. They will need this Constitution and this law themselves, and on the day they need it, we will be fair to them. We will shout in their faces once again that day how valuable law and justice are. Until Can Atalay is among us; until this unjust and unlawful order comes to an end, we will continue to fight and show solidarity."

"THE PALACE IS PURSUING A VENDETTA"

DEM Party İzmir Deputy İbrahim Akın said:

"The MHP and AKP majority, which occupies the majority of the TBMM and acts on the instructions of the palace, has signed a dishonorable decision. Despite all our efforts to prevent it, unfortunately, they read this decision and stripped Can Atalay of his parliamentary status, but it is not over here. Such laws have passed through this Parliament, but people like Ömer Gergerlioğlu have come to Parliament. What was done today actually resulted in a conclusion that means destroying the constitution of this country along with Can, and as our friends said, we are faced with a state of unconstitutionality and a decision of the Parliament. The Palace is pursuing a vendetta. Starting from the Kobani trial, they are now trying to turn the Gezi trial into a decision of hostility, and they are trying to judge and execute our friends in both cases with an enemy law."

"THERE IS ONLY ONE THING WE WILL FEAR IN THIS COUNTRY: KNEELING BEFORE THIS VILLAINY, SURRENDERING TO THIS GANG"

TİP Istanbul Deputy Ahmet Şık reacted to the stripping of Atalay's parliamentary status with these words:

"Whatever you have left when you take law, right, justice, conscience, and merit out of the law is what the Turkish judiciary is. Precisely for this reason, this is a process in which the state of unconstitutionality and the regime of lawlessness, which began unofficially immediately after the June 7, 2015 elections and was officially named after the July 15 uprising seen as a 'gift from God,' is declared to the entire public by the judiciary against this order established by the AKP. There is only one thing we will fear in this country: kneeling before this villainy, surrendering to this gang. We have nothing else to fear but these."

STATEMENT FROM KOCAELİ TİP

A protest was also held in Kocaeli at the Sabri Yalım Park area on the İzmit Walking Path. Some political parties and NGOs supported the protest, where slogans were chanted and a press statement was read.

"Today, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey has become a partner in this coup attempt carried out by the Court of Cassation. The constitutional provision that Constitutional Court rulings are binding and bind all judicial institutions was first de facto abolished by the Court of Cassation and then by the TBMM. It has been registered by the TBMM that there is no longer a constitution in Turkey and that constitutional guarantees have been eliminated.

Do not think that we will be intimidated, do not think that we will give up, or say 'so be it.'

We are starting over again today.

We are addressing those who had even the slightest share in the making of this unlawful decision, those who have their signatures under the decision:

If you think you can tarnish the Gezi Resistance, which is one of the brightest pages in this country's history, you are mistaken. You will definitely be held accountable for disregarding the will of the people of Hatay, whom you have condemned to death."

PROTEST IN FRONT OF ALSANCAK STATION IN İZMİR

There was a reaction from İzmir to the stripping of TİP Hatay Deputy Can Atalay's parliamentary status.

In the statement made in front of the İzmir Bar Association, İzmir Bar Association President Lawyer Sefa Yılmaz said, "With the stripping of Can Atalay's parliamentary status, the Constitution has been violated this time by the legislative body. This is also a violation of the article of the Constitution which states that the Republic of Turkey is a secular, democratic, and social state of law. The crime of violating the Constitution has been committed. Lawyer Şerafettin Can Atalay is our colleague who has undertaken the advocacy of mine workers who died in labor murders in Soma and Ermenek in many social cases, and girls who died in the fire in a religious sect dormitory in Aladağ, and who performs his profession with honor to ensure that those responsible are punished. We are jurists, we are lawyers, we are lawyers of the İzmir Bar Association who fight tirelessly and persistently for the requirements of the rule of law to be realized. As the İzmir Bar Association and lawyers who are members of the İzmir Bar Association; we will never allow the domination of the political power, which aims to make the legislative body dysfunctional and rule the country with a palace regime, over the judiciary. We will not bow down to the judicial coup. Can Atalay is the deputy of the people."

TMMOB IKK Term Secretary Aykut Akdemir also said, "We are experiencing one of the most painful days in the history of this country. They imprisoned our friends by manipulating the Gezi Resistance, which is the most righteous and honorable resistance of these lands. Our friends are political prisoners. The stripping of the parliamentary status of Can Atalay, who was elected by the people's own votes, is a clear indicator of the tyranny regime. Until this tyranny regime is demolished, until fascism is defeated, we will not take a step back from continuing the struggle for rights, law, and justice in this country.

HATAY GATHERED FOR ATALAY: WE WILL NOT BOW DOWN

Upon the call of TİP, protests were held in the Defne and Samandağ districts of Hatay.

In the protests, it was said, "Even if you abandon us to the rubble, even if you detain our deputy, we will claim our will. We will never bow down to you."

Stating that the parliament has turned into a graveyard of justice with the decision made, TİP members addressed those who do not recognize the Constitutional Court's ruling and showed their reaction with the words, "They will regret every day they do not release Can Atalay."