We have another item of business. We have received correspondence from the Italian Senate regarding the arrest of Members of Parliament in Turkey. We have also received a briefing note on the matter from the Department. A motion on the matter has been submitted by Deputy Seán Crowe.
Recent Actions of Government of Turkey: Motion
I move:
That the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence:
- is extremely concerned about the Turkish Government's intensified crackdown against the political opposition, Kurdish civilians, the media, educators and civil society;
- believes that the Turkish Government is disregarding the rule of law and democratic processes;
- condemns the arrest and detention of 11 democratically elected Members of the Turkish Parliament, from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the third biggest party in the Parliament, on 3 November 2016;
- is aware that other HDP MPs have had their passports revoked and arrest warrants have been issued for their arrest;
- calls on the Turkish authorities to immediately release these 11 MPs and to drop the spurious charges against them;
- requests that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan, raises the issue with his Turkish counterpart;
- and further requests that the Chairperson of this Committee forwards this motion to the Chairperson of the Turkish Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The motion concerns the arrests of the 11 members of the Halklarn Demokratik Partisi, HDP. We have had a number of discussions on the matter. We have invited journalists in from Turkey who gave a background of what is happening to them. I was to meet last week with one member of the HDP whose passport was blocked by the Turkish Government. He is in limbo in Brussels. This follows a whole pattern of arrests not only of MPs, but also of mayors and other elected representatives within Turkey. The motion speaks for itself. I seek support for it from the committee.
Like Deputy Crowe, I met with the adviser to the MP who had been prevented from travelling. I support the motion and have countersigned it. I think Deputies Maureen O'Sullivan and Darragh O'Brien have also done so. We ask that it be forwarded to the chairperson of the Turkish Parliament committee on foreign affairs.
Question put and agreed to.
I propose that we also forward a copy of the motion agreed by our committee to the Italian Senate.
The joint committee adjourned at 12.15 p.m. until 10 a.m. on Thursday, 15 December 2016.