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Turkey
Protesters host a sit-in outside the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) office in Diyarbakir. The protest has received backing from the Turkish government, with interior minister Suleyman Soylu attending. Photo: AA
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) claimed on Saturday that the Turkish government has launched a “perception operation” against them, as Ankara continues to assert that there are strong ties between the HDP and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“We strongly reject the perception operation and black propaganda against our party by the government’s spokespersons and media. We reiterate that this black propaganda is legally and politically a serious crime,” read a statement from the party’s Central Executive Committee.
A day after a deadly explosion in the Kulp district of Diyarbakir was blamed on the PKK by government officials, a number of HDP members were arrested on Friday during the security forces’ crackdown against suspected perpetrators.
“We find it very meaningful that they have turned to our party just after the incident. The house of our Kulp District Co-Mayor was raided at night. The Civil Works Director and our district co-chair have been detained. They are planning dirty tricks,” HDP Diyarbakir office co-leader Zeyyat Ceylan told the independent Bianet news outlet on Friday.
A sit-in commencing in front of the HDP’s Diyarbakir office in early September has also been the site of said “black propaganda.”
The protest began when the alleged parents of a Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighter stood in front of the HDP office to call for the return of their son.
After gaining support from government officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the pro-government media, their number increased to more than a dozen. The sit-in was even joined by Turkish interior minister Suleyman Soylu.
One of the protesting mothers told state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) last week that the PKK “kidnap[ped] our kids.”
In Saturday’s statement, the HDP questioned why security forces have provided “clear support” to this sit-in when HDP-organized Saturday Mothers sit-ins, by the mothers of those who disappeared during Turkish military rule in the eighties and nineties have been “illegally attacked.”
Outspoken HDP lawmaker Leyla Guven said in a speech earlier this week that “as long as there is no solution for the Kurdish issue, people will continue joining the PKK.”
The nationalist IYI (Good) Party - which has previously worked in cooperation with the HDP – condemned her comments, calling for her parliamentary immunity to be “revoked” on Friday.
Guven defended her comments on Saturday, condemning the “smear campaign” against her and her party.
“I have expressed my opinion within the framework of freedom of speech. But I'm being lynched by government supporters,” she said.
As part of a recent clampdown against the HDP, it’s mayors in the Kurdish cities of Diyarbakir, Van and Mardin were removed from their positions on August 19 for allegedly providing financial assistance to the PKK. Hundreds of party members were arrested nationwide.
The Turkish government have long accused the HDP of assisting and having ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated a terrorist organisation by Ankara.
In condemnation of the officials’ removal, 47 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on Friday signed an open letter to President Erdogan.
“We, the representatives of various parties and political groups in the European Parliament, stand firmly on the side of democracy and human rights and wish to express our solidarity with our colleagues in Turkey affected by repression,” the letter said.
“We urge you, the Turkish government, to end the repression against members of the HDP and the CHP, to accept the results of the local elections and to refrain from another round of repression against the opposition in Turkey.”
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