Kurds ‘oppressed’ in Turkey: top Erdogan aide

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A top advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Kurds are oppressed in Turkey, criticizing the ongoing prosecution of Kurdish politicians and activists.

Bulent Arinc, who formerly served as deputy prime minister, spoke with Turkish broadcaster Haberturk on Thursday, discussing the imprisonment of Selahattin Demirtas, former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), and philanthropist Osman Kavala.

Demirtas was detained in November 2016 along with a number of other party officials and parliamentarians for their alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), deemed a terrorist organisation by Ankara. He faces up to 142 years in jail.

Arinc, who is also a co-founder of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said he read Demirtas’ 'Devran', a collection of short stories written in jail, during the coronavirus lockdown earlier this year.

“Let everyone read Devran. Your opinion on Demirtas may not change but your opinion about many things, like Kurds and their suffering, will change. Kurds are among the oppressed in this country,” said Arinc, who is currently a member of Turkish Presidency’s High Advisory Board.

“Selahattin Demirtas has been in jail for three to four years. The arrest should not be turned into a punishment,” he added.

Arinc is not the first official close to Erdogan to speak out against the treatment of Turkey’s Kurds.

Ali Babacan, a former ally of Erdogan, criticized the Turkish government for torturing Kurdish villagers,  after two men were thrown from a military helicopter in September.

Arinc said that Demirtas “could be released” in the future “based on the fact that some people were released during the peace process,” referring to the short-lived ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK in 2013. 

He also called for the release of Kavala, imprisoned since 2017 without ever having been convicted of a crime.

“I am astonished that Kavala is still jailed. He should not be jailed,” he said.

Scores of local and international rights groups and politicians have called for Demirtas’ release.

“The Turkish government has misused detention and criminal proceedings in a campaign of persecution against Demirtaş in particular, including by flouting a European Court of Human Rights’ order to release him and concocting new baseless charges to keep him behind bars,” said Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia Director Hugh Williamson.

The HDP has come under further fire recently, with a party member detained as part of a large wave of arrests on Friday by security forces in Diyarbakir.