ISTANBUL INDEPENDENT: FROM PRISON TO PARLIAMENT

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 000663 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PTER TU SUBJECT: ISTANBUL INDEPENDENT: FROM PRISON TO PARLIAMENT ¶1. (SBU) Democratic Society Party'S (DTP)-affiliated independent candidate Sebahat Tuncel was elected with nearly 90,000 votes in Istanbul,s 3rd district. Tuncel was arrested during a police operation in the DTP office in Bagcilar district of Istanbul in November 2006. She has been kept in Gebze prison on charges of PKK membership as her trial continues in Istanbul's Heavy Penal Court No.10. Under Turkish law, she will be released after her election to parliament is certified. Parliamentary membership will confer immunity retroactively because a final court decision has not yet been made. ¶2. (SBU) Tuncel was born in 1975 in Malatya. She held different positions in pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) and DTP and was living in the Bagcilar district of Istanbul before her arrest. Police intelligence reports purportedly say Tuncel was trained in PKK camps in Northern Iraq in 1997. She had been detained multiple times for distributing PKK propaganda before her arrest in 2006. Tuncel's lawyer told press that they would start the process for her release after final results are announced by the Board of Elections. According to media, one of Tuncel's brothers committed suicide a few years ago, allegedly because of pressure from the PKK. OUDKIRK