BRUSSELS, — Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission co-chair French Helene Flautre expressed her “deep concern” over the ten years prison sentence for deputy Leyla Zana.
Reminding of Zana’s imprisonment in 1994 because of the statements she made, Helene Flautre, member of the European Parliament for the French Green Party, evaluated the sentence as a blow against the freedom of expression in Turkey.
“This sentence proves the fact that the freedom of expression in Turkey is under the threat of courts and the penal code, I urge the Turkish government and parliament to make a reform in the anti-terror law, to revoke all sentences imposed on Zana and to take necessary legal measures with an aim to secure basic freedoms and to ensure a real freedom of thought”, said Flautre.
One other reaction against Zana’s prison sentence was voiced by the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP) which evaluated the sentence as a part of the political repression against the Kurdish people.
MRAP called attention to the arrest of thousands of Kurds including elected representatives, lawyers, journalists, women and children and called on the French government and the European Parliament to intervene in the process for the release of Kurdish and Turkish political prisoners.