Turkey: Opposition deputy probed for provoking hatred

By Aylin Sirikli

ANKARA (AA) - Ankara prosecutors Monday launched an investigation of a main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy over allegedly provoking public enmity during televised remarks.

In remarks on Halk TV, Husnu Bozkurt accused the government of "not being able to defend the Suleyman Shah tomb," -- a tomb of a historic Ottoman figure just across Turkey’s border with Syria -- which Turkey relocated in 2015 to help preserve the landmark.

On Turkey’s April 16 constitutional referendum, on which the CHP is campaigning for No, Bozkurt said that if the Yes side wins, "Nobody should get carried away. We will start with Samsun, then go to Amasya, Sivas, Ankara …" mentioning historic cities in Turkey’s War of Independence.

Threatening to chase “imperialist forces” to the Aegean city of Izmir, Bozkurt added that his party could "throw them into the sea".

Turkish Penal Code Article 216 prescribes prison terms of one to three years to "any person who openly provokes a group of people belonging to a different social class, religion, race, sect, or coming from another origin, to be rancorous or hostile against another group" and thereby threatens public safety.

The constitutional changes facing referendum would hand wide-ranging executive powers to the president, while the post of prime minister would be abolished. The president would also be allowed to retain ties to a political party.

Other changes would see the minimum age of parliamentary candidates reduced to 18 and the number of deputies rising to 600.

Under the new constitution, simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections for a five-year term would be held in November 2019.