Turkey's attack on the HDP is an attack on democracy: Statement by Emergency Committee for Rojava
The Emergency Committee for Rojava strongly condemns Turkey’s attempt to ban the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), as well as the recent wave of repression targeting party members and elected officials. Turkey’s efforts to criminalize the popular opposition, and the Kurdish freedom movement in particular, amount to a move from authoritarianism to fascism. We urgently call on progressive organizations across the globe to condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms. We also call on President Biden and the United States Congress to take concrete steps to hold President Erdoğan and the Turkish government accountable.
On March 17th, a top Turkish prosecutor filed a case demanding the formal closure of HDP, the country’s third largest party, on dubious charges of “terrorism”. On the same day, HDP parliamentarian Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was forcibly removed from parliament. The HDP has faced escalating repression ever since it first secured a place in parliament in 2015, preventing President Erdoğan’s AKP party from maintaining one-party rule. Since 2016, more than 10,000 HDP members have been imprisoned, and some 6,000 are still in prison today, including the party’s former co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş. The state has also attacked the locally elected HDP officials, who have played important roles in representing the local populations’ needs and political will in the region. Out of the 58 locally elected HDP officials in 2019 elections, 49 have so far been replaced by the state-appointed officials called kayyums, who have aided the Turkish military in criminalizing HDP members and supporters.
For decades the Turkish state has used the existence of the PKK as a pretext for repression of the Kurdish freedom movement. Charges of “terrorism” have been weaponized as a tactic to criminalize the Kurd’s legitimate struggle for basic civil and political rights in a country which denies their very existence. Starting in 1993 with the case of People’s Labor Party (HEP), a total of seven pro-Kurdish parties in Turkey, all predecessors of the HDP, were banned for similar dubious charges. By accusing the HDP on charges of terrorism, the government is sending a clear message to the Turkish public that anyone who supports the rights of the Kurdish people will be treated as an enemy of the state.
Erdoğan and the AKP are using a sweeping wave of repression, along with a formal alliance with the fascist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), as a way to exterminate the popular opposition and consolidate their own grip on power. In this context, the Turkish state is not only attacking Kurds, but women, students, workers and the LGBTQ community more generally. The recent and ongoing attacks against Bogaziçi University and the LGBTQ protestors, as well as the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention (an international treaty for the protection of women) are further illustrations of Turkey’s transition from being an authoritarian to a fascist state. In this context, we see the attempt to ban the HDP as an attack on the last hope of a popular democratic front in Turkey.
We have been sorely disappointed by the relative inaction of the United States when it comes to Turkey’s human rights abuses, both at home and in its war of aggression in Northern Syria. While the US State Department’s recent statement is a welcome first step, what is needed is concrete action. The United States holds an enormous amount of potential influence over Turkey, for which it must take responsibility.
We hereby call on President Biden and the United States Congress to take the following actions:
Call for an immediate end to Turkey’s attack on the HDP and its restoration to full legal status, as well as the resumption of peace negotiations with the PKK and the release of all political prisoners.
Pursue further sanctions on Turkey if the above actions are not taken.
Push for a formal review of Turkey’s NATO membership based on its continued failure to meet NATO’s official criteria of “a functioning democratic political system” and “fair treatment of minority populations”.
Immediately halt all military aid to Turkey.
- Emergency Committee for Rojava
Watch this video of our recent conversation with the HDP’s Giran Ozcan
Click HERE for our extended analysis on this topic