Kurdish HDP party offices attacked across Turkey

December 18, 2016 By administrator

The party’s office in Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district was attacked by a group of 30 to 40 people who broke down the door, smashed windows and started a fire.

Police and fire trucks were called to the scene.

In the Darica district of Kocaeli, an unidentified person or persons opened fire on HDP’s district office. The police were called to the scene. No injuries have been reported and it is believed the office was empty at the time of the attack, CNN Turk reported.

Kurdish media has also reported attacks on HDP offices in Ankara, Izmir, Çanakkale, Hatay, and Erzincan.

The attacks come the same day at least 13 Turkish soldiers were killed and 56 wounded in a car bombing in the central city of Kayseri.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet but in the hours after the bombing, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that “Turkey is under the threat of attacks by terrorist groups, especially the separatist terrorist organization which is trying to do its best to block Turkey’s progress,” referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Erdogan has frequently accused HDP members of supporting the PKK. Many HDP MPs, including the two co-chairs, are facing terrorism charges.

Turkey: HDP Co-chair Demirtaş is being overtly tortured in prison: HDP lawmaker

December 7, 2016 By administrator

The co-chair of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is being overtly subjected to torture in prison, a HDP lawmaker has said, commenting on the imprisonment of HDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş.

“Isolation is a form of torture and our lawmakers and co-chairs are being overtly subjected to torture,” HDP deputy Meral Danış Beştaş said before visiting Demirtaş in the prison in the northwestern province of Edirne, adding that “lawlessness is being implemented.”

“There is isolation, restrictions and lawlessness in every sense,” she said.

Nine lawmakers from the HDP, as well its co-chairs, Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, were arrested on Nov. 4 in a probe that was launched against 14 of the party’s lawmakers over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Saying that Turkey should rectify its mistake, Beştaş noted that “no good can come to Turkey with it.”

“The fact that the co-chair of Turkey’s third biggest party is kept under torture and restrictions doesn’t do anything to benefit Turkey, and Turkey needs to rectify its mistake as soon as possible,” she said.

After being imprisoned, Demirtaş requested to serve his prison sentence in the same cell as one of the party’s lawmakers from the eastern province of Hakkari, Abdullah Zeydan, who was arrested on Nov. 6 and brought to the same prison in Edirne. Demirtaş’s request was rejected.

Accompanied by HDP lawmakers Burcu Çelik Özkan and Erol Dora, Beştaş said the fact that Demirtaş’s aforementioned request was rejected was against decisions by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

“We are here today for Demirtaş’s prison conditions. Unfortunately, he is still being kept in isolation alone. Despite the fact that Zeydan is also serving here, Demirtaş’s and his requests to stay together were rejected,” she said.

Beştaş also said the prison staff were restricting the number of letters that Demirtaş can write.

“We filed applications on three matters and one concerned the letters. Mr. Demirtaş’s parliamentary group meeting talk wasn’t given. It was given after two weeks and it was censored. His letters to European parliamentarians were also not given. This is not acceptable,” she added.

Turkey stops European MPs from visiting pro-Kurdish HDP head

November 21, 2016 By administrator

A delegation from the Party of European Socialists (PES) speaks to media after being denied visit to the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) party Selahattin Demirtas, imprisoned in Edirne, on November 21, 2016, in front of the Erdine Prison. (Photo by AFP)

Turkish authorities have not allowed a group of national European legislators and members of the European Parliament to visit the chairman of the left-wing and pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), who has been held in prison for nearly a month.

Dozen members of the Party of European Socialists (PES) together with national lawmakers from Sweden, France and Austria sought to visit Selahattin Demirtas at the maximum security prison in northwestern Turkish city of Edirne on Monday, but Turkish gendarmes blocked the approach road to the detention facility and did not let them move forward.

The European parliamentarians subsequently decided to convene an unplanned press conference in the street.

“He is not abandoned. He is not alone. Our political family is in solidarity with him,” PES President and former Bulgarian prime minister, Sergei Stanishev, said.

He added that there can be “no compromise” on political standards as Turkey tries to join the European Union.

The Turkish government’s has been pursuing its EU membership bid since the 1960s. The formal negotiations started in 2005. But the process has been mired in problems, and only 16 chapters of the 35-chapter accession procedure have been opened for Ankara so far.

Meanwhile, vice co-chairman of HDP responsible for foreign affairs, Hisyar Ozsoy, has denounced the Turkish officials’ procrastination to consent to visits to Demirtas.

“There is a serious policy of isolation… They have reduced relations with the outside world to the lowest level,” he said.

Earlier this month, 13 HDP legislators were arrested over alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group.

Party leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag remain in custody along with eight others, waiting to stand trial on terrorism-related charges.

A shaky ceasefire between the PKK, which has been calling for an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984, and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015. Attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.

Over the past few months, Turkish ground and air forces have been carrying out operations against PKK positions in the country’s troubled southeastern border region as well as Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and northern Syria.

Turkey HDP Kurdish co-chair Demirtaş skips court hearing after not receiving indictment

November 17, 2016 By administrator

HDP co-chair Demirtaş

An arrested co-chair of Turkey’s third largest party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), did not participate in the first hearing of his “terrorism” case after prosecutors refused to share the indictment.

The first hearing of the case, in which Selahattin Demirtaş is charged with making terror propaganda and faces up to five years in prison, took place in the southern province of Adana on Nov. 17.

The guardian in the prison in which Demirtaş is being held captive in the northwestern province of Edirne told the courtroom that he would not be participating the hearing through the voice and video informatics system (SEGBİS). The guardian also said the necessary explanation for the decision would be given by his lawyers.

A number of lawyers participated in the hearing, which was held at the 2nd Adana Court of Serious Crimes. The hearing in the case was postponed until Jan. 10, 2017.

Ten HDP lawmakers, including co-chairs Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, were arrested in a probe launched against 14 of the party’s deputies over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Meanwhile, a HDP deputy from the southeastern province of Urfa criticized Parliamentary Speaker İsmail Kahraman “for remaining silent in the face of the operations.”

“What kind of parliamentary speaker are you? Your members are in jail and in solitary confinement and you say nothing,” Osman Baydemir said in parliament, adding that no charter or law could be legitimate when a party’s co-chairs are in jail.

“No one can say that the parliament is functioning when our co-chairs are in jail. No law or charter that’s going to be prepared will be legitimate,” he said.

Source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/hdp-co-chair-demirtasskips-courthearing-afternot-receiving-indictment.aspx?pageID=238&nID=106237&NewsCatID=509

November/17/2016

Erdogan no distinctions between PKK & Gulen, The exclusion of the pro-Kurd HDP in post-coup Turkey,

August 13, 2016 By administrator

kurd-exclusion The pro-Kurd Peoples’ Democratic Party has been excluded from Turkey’s post-coup “democracy” rallies and constitution talks. Observers say the HDP is gradually being left out of politics.

After the coup attempt on July 15, Turkey’s entrenched political polarization seemed to have given way to dialogue. And yet participating in the conversation has gotten increasingly harder for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which was not included in talks with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and National Movement Party (MHP). After not having been invited to the ” Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally” in Istanbul’s Yenikapi district on August 7, HDP has also been left out of the other major parties’ negotiations toward a new constitution.

The increase in terror attacks by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has also weakened the HDP’s influence in the arena of politics. The HDP had emerged as a voice of hope for marginalized Kurds and left-wing voters when it received 6 million votes, or 13.1 percent, in the June 2015 parliamentary elections.

The party’s share in the elections that followed on November 1 dropped to 10.75 percent, however, and its positive image suffered during a year of clashes between the PKK and Turkey’s military. Even though HDP did not have trouble preserving its constituency, the party is scarcely heard from within Turkey anymore.

‘The nationalist discourse’

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he did not invite the HDP to participate in his “democracy” rally because “I do not make distinctions between PKK and FETO” – an acronym for “Fethullah Terrorist Organization,” a reference to the US-based cleric whom the government has accused of planning the coup. “I do not invite people who are in cooperation with those types of organizations,” Erdogan said. “If I do, I cannot explain it to the martyrs, veterans.”

Ozer Sencar, the owner of Metropoll Research Company, said support for the AKP had increased Turkey-wide after the attempted coup d’etat, while the HDP’s had dropped to about 8 percent. Sencar said the HDP would not necessarily lose supporters for its exclusion from the rally and the constitutional talks between the other three parties with seats in parliament. But, Sencar added, the HDP has lost support from non-Kurdish voters. “As long as the nationalist discourse increases and gains influence, the statements that equate HDP with PKK also increase,” Sencar said. “Thus, HDP’s votes are fixed below the threshold.”

In a statement to the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet earlier this week, HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtas said the party’s door would be open to Erdogan if he wanted to engage in “principled and moral” reconciliation. Demirtas also denounced a recent declaration by Kurdish militants: “We do not approve of PKK’s statement on how they will extend the battle to the cities, and we do not accept it. PKK should focus on enhancing possibilities for peace. This is what we want as HDP.”

Mesut Yegen, a sociology professor who specializes in nationalism and Kurdish issues at Istanbul Sehir University, said it had become clear that the HDP was being marginalized despite the party’s efforts toward reconciliation. On the other hand, Yegen said, given the complexity of the issues involving Turkey’s large Kurdish minority, it would not be possible to ignore the party completely. “HDP looks like it is stuck between the government and Qandil,” Yegen said. “At the same time, the disturbance to the public from clashes in cities offers HDP an atmosphere in which it can speak out against the PKK,” Yegen added. “HDP is well-aware of the risks that could arise due to increased conflict between the government and PKK.”

Democracy for peace

Many Turks are disturbed by the ways in which the HDP is being left out of political discussions, but they have also watched with concern as the PKK has intensified its presence in cities after last year’s heavy destruction.

“To suggest that a political party that is supported by 15 million voters should be left out of the democratic mechanism is not good for Turkey,” said Burc Baysal, the president of DISIAD, an association of industrialists and businesspeople in Diyarbakir. He called the demonstrations after the failed coup a positive development for Turkey’s democracy, but added: “What should not be forgotten is that HDP has always paid the price for being on the streets. If people know the value of the streets now, HDP has a big share in this.”

Baysal said the mainstream media’s nonreporting of reconciliation efforts by HDP Co-Chair Demirtas had a negative impact on Turkey’s democracy. “We need a political attitude which would not exclude HDP, but would involve it,” Baysal said. “At this point, we will never accept PKK’s acts of violence in the cities. If there is even a tiny hope of peace, PKK should pave the way for civilian politics.”

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/the-exclusion-of-the-pro-kurd-hdp-in-post-coup-turkey/a-19472650

Turkey Peaceful demonstration in Istanbul against the emergency measures

July 23, 2016 By administrator

hdp demo Saturday, at the call of unions, left parties and the HDP, thousands of people gathered in Istanbul in a peaceful protest in defense of the values of democracy.

“Neither military coup or civil blow against the state of emergency for emergency democracy!” They chanted.

Turkish Police raid HDP co-chair’s house in Istanbul

June 15, 2016 By administrator

AA photo

The police raided the house of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ in Istanbul on June 15, reportedly as a part of an operation against the outlawed Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP). Yüksekdağ is the former head of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), which allegedly has links to the outlawed organization, as the HDP claimed the operation was against the ESP.

“An operation against the ESP is already an operation against the HDP. They’re acting like bandits in raiding my house,” Yüksekdağ told journalists during a visit to the ESP’s headquarters in Istanbul, while adding that the raid was unlawful and illegitimate.

Several ESP members and directors were detained in the operation, which was carried out in nine Istanbul districts.

“They are throwing a bullet at the head of the CHP [main opposition Republican People’s Party] and raiding the co-chair of the HDP. This is what politics in Turkey has been made into,” she added, referring to CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who had a bullet thrown at him during the funeral of a soldier who was killed in an attack by the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in Istanbul’s Vezneciler neighborhood.

The ESP announced its support for the HDP in the Nov. 1, 2015, general elections, in which the latter gained 59 seats in parliament.

“All of our components are a source of power for the HDP. They think that they can intimidate us by killings and arrests, but we became stronger each time,” Yüksekdağ also said.

Meanwhile, a statement on the raid was released from the HDP, which said that new lawlessness was being carried out against the party each day.

“The government and the [Presidential] Palace, which makes the jurisdiction conduct operations on their orders every day, continue unlawfulness in all areas. The house of our co-chair was unlawfully raided early on today. The raid was carried out despite the fact that it was known that the house was Yüksekdağ’s,” the statement read, while adding that the party did not accept this “indifference” and condemned it.

“The government in Turkey doesn’t act in accordance with any universal and democratic law principle,” the statement added.

Saying that an investigation against the ones who gave the orders for the raid should be launched, the HDP also sent a message to the other opposition parties.

“They should know that the same practices will be applied to them when the time comes,” the statement read.

The HDP also said that the Presidential Palace, an apparent reference to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been trying to push the party out of the democratic political area via targeting the party, its administrators, lawmakers and components.

An operation was carried out in the Istanbul districts of Sultangazi, Arnavutköy, Beyoğlu, Güngören, Başakşehir, Kartal, Eyüp, Maltepe and Üsküdar on 24 different addresses. A police helicopter also gave aerial support to the operation.

June/15/2016

Turkey’s Kurd Party HDP sends photos of devastated Cizre to European lawmakers

June 2, 2016 By administrator

picturs send to EU Turkey’s Kurdish problem-focused opposition party has prepared a photo album showing traces of the conflict during curfews in the now-devastated Cizre district in the southeastern province of Şırnak and sent it to European lawmakers.

The album composed of 92 photographs named “Mezopotamya’nın Sevgili Şehri Cizre/The Beloved City of Mesopotamia” was sent to lawmakers from the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said on June 2 in a press release.

“As known, during curfews which have been declared on and off since July 2015, and [one] which was finally started on Dec. 14, 2015, and ended on Feb. 11, 2016, in Cizre, the city has virtually been completely wrecked and hundreds of people have lost their lives,” the HDP said.

After the curfew was lifted, a delegation from the party went to the city and prepared the album, which includes an appendix composed of oral evidence as well as reports in Turkish and English which have been drafted by civil society organizations such as the Human Rights Association (İHD), the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV), the Trade Union of Employees in Public Health and Social Services (SES), the Diyarbakır Bar Association, the Association for Human Rights and Solidarity for the Oppressed (MAZLUMDER), the Libertarian Lawyers Association (ÖHD), the Mesopotamia Lawyers Association (MHD), the Asrın Law Office and the Foundation for Society and Legal Studies (TOHAV). A letter by the United Nations concerning Cizre is also included in the DVD format appendix.

It was also sent to various civil society organizations and political parties at home and abroad.

Meanwhile, HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş was paying a two-day visit to Switzerland to hold talks with leading parliamentarians, as well as senior officials from international institutions.

Demirtaş will hold various talks in Switzerland during his visit on June 2-3, the party’s press office said.

Demirtaş will meet Christa Markwalder, the speaker of the Swiss House of Representatives; Raphaël Comte, the speaker of the Senate; and Christian Levrat, head of the Socialist Party and the president of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

Demirtaş will also hold talks with Martin Chungong, the secretary-general of the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and Gianni Magazzeni, chief of the Americas, Europe and Central Asia branch of the Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Following months of fierce debate, a bill that will mainly target HDP lawmakers with the aim of stripping them of their immunity from prosecution was passed last month by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the vocal support of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the founding leader of the party.

Demirtaş, one of two leaders of the third-largest party in parliament, has long said the move is likely to create more violence and stifle democratic politics, as the country has been embroiled in a reignited conflict between security forces and militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) since July 2015.

Demirtaş has also been arguing that Erdoğan’s drive for an executive presidency was preventing the revival of a peace process between the state and the PKK.

June/02/2016

HDP: Davutoglu remark on Kurds reminiscent of Armenian Genocide

February 29, 2016 By administrator

207084 Co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas commented on Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s statement, suggesting that “the Kurdish party cooperates with the Russians, just like Armenian gangs did once.”

“When they say things like that, they actually mean “We’ll do to you what we did to the Armenians in 1915.” This implies nothing but policy of mass slaughter and death. But we are confident in our unity,” Demirtas stressed, according to Ermenihaber.am.

Also, the pro-Kurdish official blamed Davutogly for deriving no lessons from history.

Turkish police raid Kurdish party HDP offices in Istanbul, detain 5 party members

January 8, 2016 By administrator

Police officers from the counterterrorism unit of the İstanbul Police Department raided the Beyoğlu district building of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) early on Friday and detained five of its members.

Media reports say riot police and special ops teams also participated in the raid, which took place at around 7 a.m. Police officers arrived in armored vehicles and were backed by helicopters.

HDP Beyoğlu branch Co-chair Rukiye Demir and four others were detained during the raid, reports say.

The police’s search of the building lasted several hours. According to media reports, the raid was conducted as part of an investigation into the activities of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H) — an affiliate of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) — in İstanbul’s Beyoğlu and Şişli districts.

Several HDP district officials were also previously detained in police raids that have being conducted since the June 7 parliamentary election. The HDP accuses the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government of seeking to punish it for its success in the inconclusive June election that deprived the ruling AK Party of its single-party majority in Parliament.

The renewed hostilities have wrecked efforts to establish lasting peace and have sparked some of the worst clashes in the 29-year-old PKK insurgency. Deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and European Union, the PKK launched its armed campaign for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984. The conflict has cost the country more than 40,000 lives.

Keywords: HDP , Beyoğlu