Brussels, 13 November 2015

To the kind attention of VP/HR Federica Mogherini:

 

The Turkish justice system started a legal procedure against our comrade Vice-Chair of the Party of European Left (EL) and member of Izquierda Unida, Maite Mola. She has been applied the Turkish Anti-Terrorism Law, a clearly antidemocratic regulation whose many abused include allowing to shoot people in the streets.

 

The Vice-Chair of the EL has been accused of insulting President Erdogan when she participated in a massive demonstration which took place in Istanbul last February to protest against the National Citizen Security Law that was being debated in the Turkish Parliament back then. To give some example, this law would allow the police to arrest and shoot anyone walking in the street with their face partially covered, it would extend preventive arrest to up to 48 hours, and, amongst other elements, the Government would have more power to declare arbitrarily a state of emergency.

 

Taking into account the deep worries expressed by large majority of Members of the European Parliament about the Turkish Government, which has been made clear throughout a number of questions and speeches in the plenary or in different committees regarding the numerous human rights violations taking place in Turkey, the authoritarian ways being used, and the suspicions of a lax attitude towards ISIS, the signatories of this letter demand:

 

1.       To receive an urgent answer on which measures will be taken to stop this procedure against the Vice-Chair of the EL,

2.       To support through the necessary legal assessment, follow-up and protection an European party like the EL is against this anti-democratic attack.

 

We think it is completely unacceptable that a country which is a candidate to enter the EU uses its justice system to criminalize democratic opposition.

 

Javier Couso

Marina Albiol

Paloma López

Ángela Vallina

Lidia Senra

Marisa Matias

Fabio de Masi

Sabine Lösing

Ernest Urtasun

Eleonora Forenza

Helmut Scholz

Barbara Spinelli

Martina Anderson

Matt Carthy

Lynn Boylan

Liadh ni Riada

Kostas Chrysogonos

Patrick Le Hyaric

Neoklis Sylikiotis

Merja Kyllonen

Nikolaos Chountis

Dimitris Papadimoulis

Martina Michels

Miguel Urbán

Lola Sánchez

Estefanía Torres

Tania González

Miloslav Ransdorf

Takis Hadjigeorgiou

Josu Juaristi

Kostadinka Kuneva

Gabi Zimmer

Stephan Eck

Marie-Christine Vergiat

Sofia Sakorafa

Jiri Mastalka

Katerina Konecna

Jean-Luc Mélenchon

Javier López

Nikolaos Chountis

Costas Mavrides

Curzio Maltese

Jordi Sebastià