Racists attacked the funeral of People’s Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Aysel Tuğluk’s mother’s on 13 September 2017 in Ankara, Turkey.
For an hour and a half they threw stones and bottles and 80-year-old Hatun Tuğluk’s body had to be exhumed due to the attacks. She was later buried in Tunceli (Dersim) in Turkey. Aysel Tuğluk was allowed to leave prison to attend the funeral. After witnessing the attacks at her mother’s funeral, she said: “They burned me twice, just like in Madımak”.
Three years have passed since this violent incident, yet no one has been charged for their violent actions. During the budget talks in parliament, there was a debate over attending funerals of guerrillas. There were heated exchanges between HDP and Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies.
HDP deputy Meral Danış Beştaş criticized the government and said: “Please do not practice the politics of death. You can make a new law in the Turkish Criminal Code and then decide who can attend such funerals and who cannot”. The AKP Trabzon Deputy Muhammet Balta defended the racist attack on Tuğluk’s mother’s funeral and said :”We do not respect the terrorists’ funerals”.
