At least 10 people were detained in Istanbul province after police tried to disperse HDP supporters using tear gas and rubber bullets, according to Duvar, an independent Turkish news agency.
Beginning on two opposite sides of Turkey, namely the southeastern Hakkari province, as well as the northwestern province of Istanbul, the HDP’s five-day march - under the slogan of “Together” - is scheduled to end on June 20 in the capital city of Ankara.
#Buldan: Our march did not start today and will not end tomorrow. We have been marching for a long time and we will continue to march until democracy, peace and justice prevail in Turkey, and our imprisoned comrades and friends are all set free. #EdirnedenHakkariyeHepBirlikte pic.twitter.com/Jwu0wm7t23
— HDP English (@HDPenglish) June 15, 2020
The Turkish government initially launched a crackdown against dissidents, including the HDP, after the July 2016 failed coup, which was attributed to cleric Fethullah Gulen - a former ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the subsequent years scores of HDP members, officials and supporters have been detained in various waves of state repression.
The HDP won 65 of over a thousand municipalities in the March 2019 local elections, but six mayor-elects were banned from taking up office on the grounds that they had been previously dismissed by the government. An additional 45 of them have been replaced by pro-government officials, largely for their alleged links to the PKK. The party currently has only 14 mayors in office. Moreover, according to official figures from the HDP, twenty-one of the removed mayors have been detained.
Speaking to HDP supporters at the Hakkari rally, the party co-chair Mithat Sancar claimed the government has “confiscated” the will of HDP voters, when it replaced the party’s mayors with pro-government administrators (trustees).
“The policy of [replacing HDP mayors with] trustees is the greatest coup. Sixty-five percent of the people of Hakkari voted for their mayors. A confiscation of the mayor’s office and replacing the mayor with a pro-government official means disregarding the will of the people of Hakkari. We are here to protect this will,” he said.
Turkish parliament impeached three opposition parliamentarians due to final rulings from a court against them in early June. HDP’s Leyla Guven and Musa Farisogullari and the CHP’s Enis Berberoglu were later detained. Berberoglu and Guven have subsequently been released, but Farisogullari remains behind bars.
Berberoglu was charged with revealing state secrets, while the two HDP lawmakers were charged for their alleged links to the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella group of a number of parties, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
In her speech to the crowd in Edirne, Buldan claimed that the ruling Justice and Development Party’s governance method is “the biggest problem” in the country.
“Kurds, Alevis, Armenians, women, and youths do have problems in this country. But the biggest problem is the AKP government itself. The AKP’s prohibitive mentality and its style of government have become the biggest problem,” stated the politician, referring to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Contingents of the HDP march were faced by interference by police in some areas, including surrounding the party’s office in Edirne, according to Buldan, who says this will not impact their activities.
AKP spokesperson Omer Celik sidelined the march in a press conference in Ankara, claiming the HDP has used concepts of democracy and peace in service of the PKK.
"Whenever a democratic step is taken in Turkey, they poison it. They talk about peace, democracy and human rights. Well, what have you done about this? You call legitimate decisions a coup, but use peace, democracy, and other similar concepts in the service of the PKK. How is this acceptable? How can you use such a deceitful policy?"
