15 HDP mayors removed, dozens put behind bars since Turkish local elections in March: rights group

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Fifteen democratically elected mayors from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) have been removed from their positions due to alleged links to Kurdish rebels in Turkey, according to a report by a local human rights monitor, while dozens more have faced arrest and detention. 

The report released Monday by the Diyarbakir branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) coincides with the third anniversary of a nationwide crackdown on HDP leaders, lawmakers and members - most of whom, including former party co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, are still behind bars. The party terms the clampdown a "coup".

Detailing measures taken against party members by the Turkish government after the March 2019 local elections, the report stated 14 HDP candidates who won election had not been given official certification of their win by the electoral commission. Fifteen mayors were removed from their positions while in office by the interior ministry, 26 were detained, and 13 others arrested. 

According to report data on the treatment of municipal council members, 43 were denied the positions they were elected for by the electoral commission, 37 were removed from their positions, and 51 more were either detained or arrested.

Ninety-seven HDP mayoral candidates won election in this year’s local elections, and the party won over six percent of provincial council member seats nationwide. 

The party also played a strategically important role in the election of candidates from the main opposition Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP), throwing its supportive weight behind them in western provinces like Istanbul to prevent the election of candidates from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Founded in 2012, the HDP has been subject to repressive measures from the Turkish government, including party member arrests, since its establishment in 2012. 

The pro-Kurdish, leftist party is accused by Ankara of being the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been involved in a decades-long conflict with the Turkish state in pursuit of cultural and political rights for Kurds in the country. 

The HDP has denied organic links to the Kurdish rebels. However, unlike other parties and the government, it does not view the PKK as a terrorist organization and has expressed its respect for the ideology of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.  HDP mayors have denied accusations that they have used the budgets of their municipalities in service of the PKK.

The most recent raids against HDP officials and members were on the grounds of their condemnation of the Turkish-led Operation Peace Spring against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. 

Crackdown grew more pronounced after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government experienced a failed coup attempt in July 2016, which was blamed on Fethullah Gulen - a former ally of Erdogan living in self-imposed asylum in the US. 

The HDP’s condemnation of the putsch, did not save it from the post-coup clampdown on those Ankara viewed as dissidents. 

Demirtas and Yuksekdag, about a dozen lawmakers, and thousands of members were detained or arrested on or after November 4, 2016. 

Demirtas said in a tweet via his lawyers on Sunday that there is no law in Turkey, but continued to expresse hope of eventual freedom.

“There is no law and justice but there is companionship, solidarity, hope and resistance. Surely, there will be freedom as well,” he tweeted following a decision by a Turkish court to free HDP colleague Abdullah Zeydan this week – a decision reversed the very same day.

Demirtas himself has been ordered released more than once by Turkish courts, only for release decisions to later be rejected higher up the judicial ladder. He has blamed Erdogan for his alleged intervention in court affairs. 

On the anniversary of the crackdown, the HDP released a statement in which they promised to defy Turkish government repression.

“Three years have passed since November 4 coup,” it said referring to the crackdown. “None of the coups and attacks against democratic politics have deviated us from our path. We are stronger than ever before and we have more faith and hope.”

Turkey claims it is trying to instigate change in the way it handles political criticism. Parliament passed a package of reforms on October 17, with a view to amend legislation on issues including freedom of speech.

Reforms, for which the Turkish government convened to discuss on Monday, were to make a distinction between those who denounce government action “for the purpose of criticism” and those who “cross the limits of reporting,” state media outlet Anadolu Agency reported soon after they passed. 

The Turkish justice minister briefed the cabinet about the latest reform developments, including “acceleration” of the implementation, Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin told reporters in Ankara.

Reforms will increase trust between people and courts, Kalin asserted.

Following the announcement of said reforms, two Turkish journalists and a senior member of the CHP have been released in the space of a few days. 

Eren Erdem, a member of the CHP's executive council, was released on Thursday after 490 days in jail for his alleged links to Fethullah Gulen.

Journalists Ahmet Altan and Nazli Ilicak, also jailed for alleged links to Gulen, were released Monday night after a retrial in Istanbul.

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