HDP deputies wear po?u at parliament to protest security bill

Opposition deputies? unprecedented creativity in their ways of objecting to a government-led controversial homeland security bill during ongoing General Assembly-level debates at parliament prevailed late Feb. 24.

Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ayla Akat Ata took to the rostrum, having covered her face with a keffiyeh (?po?u? in Turkish), as her fellow deputies from the HDP joined her by covering their faces with po?us while listening to her address the General Assembly amid heated debates between deputies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the opposition parties.

Ata read out the definition of ?po?u,? originally a Persian word, from the dictionary of the Turkish Language Institute (TDK), which describes the po?u as a kind of headscarf.

?Since when has a po?u, which is an accessory and has been at the same time used as headscarf, turned into a tool of crime?? Ata asked, and then listed occasions where university students, laborers, women, farmers, academics and tradespeople had to cover their faces with po?us when faced with tear gas, sticks and riot control vehicles with water cannons, known as TOMAs, used by police during demonstrations aimed at seeking and protecting their rights and freedoms.

Ata said all of those groups have been victimized by ?state terror.?

?They have been victimized by the violence imposed by the state. But it is said ?We are passing this law to secure freedoms.? In spite of that, everyone who has criticized the government?s policies and those who wanted freedom have been victimized by this violence,? Ata said, calling on the Council of Ministers to declare the number of people who were arrested for covering their faces before this bill came on the agenda.

?We...