Erdogan targets the main political party …

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan take a dangerous shift towards radical positions of the Islamic right. Although at one point he was open to negotiating with the Kurdish people, the reality is very different. A few days ago, the Attorney General of the country, in accordance with the wishes of the president, called for the ban of the most important Kurdish party, the People’s Democratic Party (HDP, for its acronym in Turkish). In addition, the prosecutor requested that prevent for life the political activity of 687 leaders and representatives of this force. At the same time, the executive withdrew the country from the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty aimed at combating gender-based violence. For the Honorary President of HDP, Ertugrul Kürkçü, Erdogan ignites polarization between Islamists and anti-Islamists. “He threatens people by saying that if they don’t vote for him there will be a civil war“said the politician in dialogue with PageI12.

The persecution against the Kurdish people dates back, at least, to the formation of the Turkish state in 1923. We are talking about an ethnic group made up of nearly 40 million people who occupy the territories of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey. In fact, most of its population, nearly 20 million, is on Turkish territory. However, since 2015, when the HDP gained strength as the majority political party among the Kurds, the cruelty was evident. “Since October 2015, more than 100 HDP mayors have been removed from their posts and replaced by state officials. Many of them ended up in prison. But it does not end there: a lot of friends, Members of Parliament and I too, they kicked us out of Parliament and canceled our immunity. We are victims of total repression», Explained the Turkish politician.

In the 2015 parliamentary elections, the party obtained 80 members in the Assembly out of a total of 600. They also obtained representatives in towns in western Turkey, while historically the Kurdish movement is in the lead. its historic territory, in the east of the country. Kürkçü explained that this was due to a historic change in his strength, incorporating claims that go beyond ethnic claims. “HDP is based on three main bases: the rights of peoples or groups living in Turkey, especially the Kurds who are repressed; realize a democracy and a socialist system; fight for women’s rights and sexual diversity. Our struggle is to establish a democracy on these three points which they have never been respected“Said the leader of the HDP.

At the time of the rise of the Kurdish party intervenes the request for prohibition of the prosecutor Bekir Sahin. The official maintains that the members of the HDP, by “their actions and statements”, seek break with “the indissoluble unity of state and nation”. In addition, he noted that the party “acts as an extension” of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a guerrilla group described as “terrorist” by Ankara and its Western allies. The honorary president of the HDP replied that the accusation had no legal basis. “The complaints are based on our statements, because we do not call the PKK a ‘terrorist’. But to call them that would be to ignore history. The Kurdistan liberation movement has historically responded to Turkish state violence. If you don’t understand this you will never be able to make peace», Sostuvo Furman.

Systematic persecution

In 1984, a dictatorship was installed in Turkey which eliminated the Kurdish minorities. In this context, the PKK played a central role as a military outpost in the defense of its territory and in the search for the independence of Kurdistan. The Kurdish anthropologist Mehmet Dogan, specialist in intercultural conflicts in the Middle East, underlined the high human cost of this war which took place between 1984 and 2010. “More than 40,000 dead, mostly civilians, victims of Turkish government crackdown. In the mountainous region of Kurdistan, more than 5,000 villages were set on fire and emptied. The government accused them of supporting the guerrillas. There were more than 5 million internal and external refugeesSaid the anthropologist.

In 2013, peace negotiations began between the Turkish government and the leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, who remained in prison. Erdogan was part of the negotiations. At that time, the current president was Prime Minister. Dialogue between his government and the guerrilla group was opposed to the 2015 presidential and legislative elections. The HDP played a central role as mediator in the negotiations. For the honorary president of this party, Erdogan took advantage of this context to promote his chances in the elections. “When we started to launch the peace process, the governing party (Justice and Development Party – AKP, for its initials in Turkish), which is Islamist, declared “ We are going to lead this peace process to take advantage of the situation of the Kurds, win their votes and end the HDP ”“Said the politician. At the end of 2015, the peace process ended in stalemate. Erdogan had managed to be elected president, but could not prevent the HDP from achieving its best performance in the legislative elections, reaching 13% of the vote. From then on, everything was again difficult for the Kurds.

“Changing the undemocratic state”

The illegalization of political parties is nothing new in Turkey’s weak democracy. Since 1990, the Kurdish movement and leftist forces have been banned by six political parties. With which this new prosecution outpost was expected, according to Kürkçü admits. “In the traditional nationalist politics of the Turkish state, there is only the Turkish nation. If you talk about freedom and the rights of other groups, they always accuse you of being a separatist“Said the politician. It remains only for justice to decide the future of the HDP.” There are 15 members of the Constitutional Court who must decide, including eight were nominated by Erdogan. To ban us, they need ten votes. We’ll see, ”said the HDP leader.

Erdogan’s radicalization to nationalist and right-wing positions has taken on new impetus. The deepening of the alliance between its political force and Nationalist Action Party (MHP) goes in this direction. It’s been a few days the president ordered the country to be removed from the Istanbul Convention. The body was responsible for implementing policies against gender violence in Europe. “Every day that they apply a policy of repression against the Kurdish people or minorities, we gain more votes”Kürkçü argued. According to him, the majority of Turks do not want a civil war between Islamists and secularists. The HDP leader is clear that in order to achieve real change, it is necessary to rebuild the Turkish state. “Democracy in Turkey will not only require a change of government. We must build an opposition that wants to change the undemocratic tradition of our state. This is what we do, ”said Kürkçü.