Turkey’s government pushes the country closer to the precipice after regime forces detain at least 12 pro-Kurdish deputies around the country, including the party’s two co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ. ‘Only the people can try me,’ the HDP MPs say in a joint defense Turkish regime forces detained at least 12 Peoples’ Democratic Party […]
Turkey’s government pushes the country closer to the precipice after regime forces detain at least 12 pro-Kurdish deputies around the country, including the party’s two co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ. ‘Only the people can try me,’ the HDP MPs say in a joint defense
Turkish regime forces detained at least 12 Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies early on 4 November in the latest step toward the consolidation of a dictatorship in the country under the authority of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ were detained on raids at their homes, as were 10 other MPs, Ferhat Encü, Leyla Birlik, Selma Irmak, Abdullah Zeydan, İdris Baluken, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Ziya Pir, Gülser Yıldırım, Nursel Aydoğan and İmam Taşçıer.
Two other MPs, Faysal Sarıyıldız and Tuğba Hezer Öztürk, could not be detained because they are overseas.
A prosecutor rapidly demanded that Demirtaş be formally arrested.
“Whether we’re in the parliament or prison, you cannot take us captive to stop us from defending our ideas and struggle in their name,” the HDP said, releasing the defense its MPs will provide to prosecutors.
“We have no doubt that will be liberated from this fascist order that has been imposed on our country and our people in the name of the presidential system. Sooner or later, our democratic struggle will win. This musty old regime, represented by the person of Erdoğan, will go,” it said.
“We have no demands or expectations from you. Only the people that selected me can question me for my political activities,” the HDP said in its defense.
Senior HDP deputy İdris Baluken also took umbrage with police as he was being detained at the party’s headquarters in Ankara. “Don’t touch my head. I am the representative of hundreds of thousands of voters. You can’t shove my head and take me like that.”
Turkish officials released a statement, saying the 12 were detained for failing to appear before a prosecutor to provide testimony. “As known, those who refuse to respond to the summons by prosecutors asking for their testimony in probes and hence break the laws are taken into custody so as to take their testimony.”
“We view the stance against all of our administrators who have been detained until this point or called to testify as an attempt at liquidation,” said HDP spokesperson Ayhan Bilgen in a subsequent statement. “We view this is a political lynch attempt, a siege and the footsteps of a regime of oppression and fascism.”
Bilgen called on all those in Turkey who defend peace and democracy to raise their voice against the regime’s attacks.
“The actual perpetrator of the coup is the AKP government and the Palace [of Erdoğan],” Democratic Regions Party (DBP) co-chair Sabahat Tuncel said.
“Today is the day to scream against fascism from street to street,” Democratic Society Congress (DTK) co-chair Leyla Güven said.
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.
Observers have suggested the attacks on the HDP, the third largest in parliament, will further radicalize and militarize the Kurdish issue in Turkey as it closes off any manner of democratic outlet for opposition in the country. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has already been fighting the Turkish state for over 30 years in an effort to secure cultural rights and autonomy for the country’s Kurds. Following the breakdown of a peace process last year, the state began attacking the PKK once more, prompting retaliation from the insurgent group.
Meanwhile, at least one person was killed and 30 more were injured in a car bomb outside a police station in Amed’s Rezik (Bağlar) district on the morning of 4 November, according to official sources.
Police reportedly opened fire on protesters who were shouting “Murderous AKP” and “the PKK is the people, and the people are here” near the scene of the incident.
Sendika.Org, ANF, ETHA
