Turkish police fire live rounds, rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon in an effort to suppress citizens protesting President Erdoğan’s counter-coup against Turkey’s opposition. Scores were detained and injured in protests around the country in the wake of the detention and arrest of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers

Police in Turkey have escalated their attempts to stamp out dissent in the country in the wake of unprecedented attacks on elected representatives and freedom of expression, ordering officers to fire live rounds and detain scores of demonstrators at press conferences around the country following raids on the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on 4 November.

“Don’t be shy about using a gun. If need be, open fire,” one police chief was heard ordering his officers during the suppression of a weekend protest against the detention and arrest of HDP deputies in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district.

Protests were held in Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Aydın, Bursa, Adana, Mersin, Dersim, Antalya, Eskişehir and elsewhere in the country to protest the detentions of 13 HDP lawmakers and the subsequent arrest of a number of MPs, including co-leaders Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, as well as deputy leader İdris Baluken.

Other Kurdish politicians were also arrested after being detained in protests in the wake of the raids against the HDP, as Democratic Regions Party (DBP) co-leader Sebahat Tuncel was dragged away by four police officers following a protest in Amed (Diyarbakır) before being formally arrested. The DBP is the sister party of the HDP, while Tuncel is a former MP for the HDP.

One person was injured after police fired live rounds at local citizens who had erected barricades in İkitelli, a neighborhood in Istanbul’s Küçükçekmece district. Earlier, locals had blocked traffic in the neighborhood, chanting, “Thief, Murderer, AKP,” in reference to Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).

During their attacks, police also received assistance from groups of civilian fascists, as ultranationalist elements helped attack a press statement on 5 November in Istanbul’s Şişli district, while a fascist group called the “Black Kalpaks” also fired shots at protesters who had been detained by police following a press statement over the weekend at Kadıköy’s İskele Square.

There were also widespread allegations of torture, particularly after a 6 November protest in Kadıköy called by women’s organizations, during which Muhammed Cihad Saatçioğlu, the son of HDP MP Hüda Kaya, was left with severe injuries following a beating by police.

“His spine is broken, and there is damage to his head caused by trauma. Even in this condition, the police want to take him into custody on a girdle, but the doctors say he needs treatment,” said Saatçioğlu’s lawyer, Maviş Aydın.

Doctors has said the victim will need to stay in bed for at least three weeks.

During the same protest, two journalists from the Jin News Agency (JINHA), Bengi Su Kömürcü and Duygu Civiniz, were also detained.

The move against the HDP comes amid high tension in the country that has left many fearing a societal explosion of anger. The HDP had infuriated Erdoğan in 2015 when it said it would not permit him to become an executive president with unencumbered powers. By entering parliament on 7 June 2015, the HDP succeeded in preventing Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) from securing a majority to change the charter at will. Since then, the HDP has been the subject of a number of attacks by the Turkish government, including a move to lift parliamentarians’ immunities from prosecution.

The lifting of the immunities paved the way for the detention of the HDP MPs for not appearing for testimony on “terrorism propaganda” charges.

At the same time, Erdoğan’s forces have used a 15 July coup attempt by suspected Gülenists to crack down on the HDP and socialists with state of emergency decrees, detaining HDP members around the country. Last week, the HDP’s co-mayors in Amed (Diyarbakır) were detained and arrested, while a Turkish civil servant was appointed as a trustee in their place.

Numerous Kurdish and socialist news outlets have also been closed down as part of the state of emergency and hundreds of journalists have been detained.

Sendika.Org