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HDP party of oppressed Turks forgotten oppressed Kurds

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HDP party of oppressed Turks forgotten oppressed Kurds

PostAuthor: Anthea » Wed Jan 18, 2017 11:11 am

Turkey Kurd leader risks up to 142 years in jail

Turkish prosecutors Tuesday demanded up to 142 years in prison for the leader of the country's main pro-Kurdish party, in a case that has intensified concerns over freedom of expression.

Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Selahattin Demirtas was detained in November on charges of links to Kurdish militants.

The charismatic Demirtas -- who stood against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2014 elections -- was detained along with another nine HDP lawmakers and his female co-leader Figen Yuksekdag.

Prosecutors in the Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Diyarbakir in the same indictment asked that Yuksekdag serves up to 83 years in jail, the state-run Anadolu news agency added.

The MPs are charged with links with and membership of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an armed insurrection against the Turkish state since 1984.

But Demirtas, as well as the other MPs, has denied having any links to the PKK and denounced the case as political.

- 'Controversial constitution' -

The Kurdish leader -- one of the few politicians to come close to rivalling the rhetorical skills of the Turkish leader -- says he is being punished for daring to oppose Erdogan's drive for a presidential system under a new constitution.

Demirtas last week from behind bars slammed parliamentary debates for a new constitution, saying the arrest of the 11 HDP lawmakers "makes the debate and the vote controversial from the very start."

Prosecutors accuse Demirtas of running a political front of the PKK. The charges he is facing range from "running a terrorist organisation", "disseminating propaganda" for Kurdish militants to "inciting hatred and enmity", according to Anadolu.

They are also holding the HDP responsible for the October 2014 street protests led by pro-Kurdish demonstrators against Turkey's policy on Syria. The spiral of violence claimed at least 31 lives.

Demirtas is currently being held at a prison in Edirne, in northwest Turkey, far from the southeastern heartland of the Kurdish movement.

The government had pursued a strategy of peace talks with the PKK but clashes flared in 2015 after the collapse of a two-and-a-half year ceasefire.

The PKK is designated as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies. More than three decades of fighting are estimated to have claimed over 40,000 lives.

According to the HDP, over 50 pro-Kurdish mayors have also been detained, including prominent Mardin mayor Ahmet Turk, who was taken in November.

The detentions came after Turkey defeated a failed July 15 coup aimed at bringing down Erdogan's government and blamed on US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen.

But critics complain the crackdown goes well beyond the alleged coup plotters and accuse the authorities of using the state of emergency imposed in the wake of the putsch to muzzle all opposition, not merely the suspects themselves.

Demirtas, a human rights lawyer, has emerged as a key political opposition actor dubbed the "Kurdish Obama", leading the HDP to an unprecedented political breakthrough in June 2015 parliamentary polls, weakening the standing of Erdogan's party.

He also attracted votes from secular Turks, who opposed Erdogan's rule. Detractors however said he failed to distance himself from the PKK.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/worl ... cle/483816
Last edited by Anthea on Sun Feb 11, 2018 7:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Demirtas faces 142 years in prison for PKK connection

PostAuthor: Anthea » Wed Jan 18, 2017 11:26 am

I love a good laugh on a freezing cold winter morning :smile: :-D :lol: :)) =))

But Demirtas...has denied having any links to the PKK


If Demirtas was Pinocchio his nose would be a mile long :smile: :-D :lol: :)) =))
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Re: Demirtas faces 142 years in prison for PKK connection

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Feb 09, 2018 4:54 pm

Turkey has ordered the arrest of 17 people including the co-leader of the main pro-Kurdish political party over opposition to the military’s offensive in Syria, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Friday.

Among them were Serpil Kemalbay, the co-leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP),

Since the launch of the campaign in northwest Syria’s Afrin nearly three weeks ago, authorities have said they would arrest those who criticize or oppose it. So far, some 600 people have been detained for protests or for social media posts against the offensive.

17 suspects now facing arrest were accused of seeking to stir street protests and clashes under the guise of opposition to the Afrin offensive.
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Re: Demirtas faces 142 years in prison for PKK connection

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sun Feb 11, 2018 7:05 pm

HDP holds congress to replace leaders

‘2018 will be the year of HDP's contributions to peace’

Pervin Buldan and Sezai Temelli are the nominees for the co-chair positions. They were selected by consensus by a commission in advance of the congress.

Pervin Buldan, 50, a Kurd born in Hakkari province. Her husband, Savas Buldan was accused of being financing the PKK. He was abducted and killed in 1994.

I remember that :-?

She founded an association for the families of missing persons and is a member of the Saturday Mothers – group that commemorates victims of extrajudicial killings every Saturday. She entered politics in 2007 and is currently a HDP deputy for Istanbul and deputy speaker of the parliament.

“It is a source of honor for me to be given the position of Selahattin Demirtas who never compromised democratic and principled politics,” she told the congress.

She also thanked former co-chair Figen Yuksekdag, as a source of inspiration. “In the name of my party and myself, I thank beloved Yuksekdag for being on front in all conditions with her determination and inspiring us as women,” she said.

Buldan vowed that HDP will not succumb to the pressures being exerted on the party. “HDP did not kneel despite all the pressure, and it will not kneel. Let this be a lesson,” she asserted.

Sezai Temelli, 55, a Turk, :ymsick: is a founding member of HDP. He was elected to represent an Istanbul district in the June 2015, but lost his seat in the November 2015 election. He has served as the party’s vice chairman responsible for economic policy.

“2018 will be the year of HDP's contributions to peace,” he told the congress, vowing “HDP will give this tyrant government the most important lesson.”

He stressed that the party represents all the peoples of Turkey, saying “All of us – Kurds, Turks, Alevis, Sunnis, Romans, and Christians – will be organized and go into power with our radical understanding of democracy.”

“This is our goal,” he stated.

‘HDP is the party of oppressed Turks’

Seems to have forgotten oppressed Kurds - hope NOBODY ever votes for them again

Selahattin Demirtas, imprisoned in Edirne, sent a message that was read out at the congress.

He expressed his thanks to his family and his many supporters over his six years as co-chair of the party. “When I die, write on my tombstone ‘this man owes his nation,’” he stated.

HDP is the party of all the people of Turkey – regardless of their religion or ethnicity, he said.

Opponents to HDP have accused the party of not being “Turkish” because of its support for the Kurdish cause. Demirtas said the people will decide whether HDP is Turkish or not.

“HDP is the party of oppressed Turks in the same way it is for oppressed Kurds,” he said, slamming other parties as “thieves,” driven by bribery.

He vowed that the party will remain a “hope” against the policies of the ruling AKP and the nationalist MHP.

Congress takes place at 'historic time'

“Our congress is taking place at a very historic time,” co-chair Serpil Kemalbay said in a speech to the estimated 32,000 attendees.

Despite the “obstacles” thrown up by Turkish authorities, the congress went ahead, encouraged by the struggles of the jailed party members she said.

She criticized Ankara’s extended state of emergency, under which authorities have carried out mass arrests and cracked down on media. Kemalbay was also critical of the government’s economic policies.

On Afrin, she condemned Turkey’s military operation on the Kurdish canton in northern Syria, saying the offensive is “not reasonable in the eyes of the Turkish people,” noting that the people of Afrin had been living in peace.

She hailed the strong resistance in Afrin and accused the government of trying to conceal the real number of its casualties.

Pervin Buldan and Sezai Temelli are the nominees for the co-chair positions. They were selected by consensus by a commission in advance of the congress.

Serpil Kemalbay (in blue and white) flanked by the co-chair nominees Pervin Buldan (L) and Sezai Temelli (R). Photo: HDP

Under the slogans ‘hope, bravery, determination' and 'together against fascism,' Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is holding its third congress on Sunday and it is expected to elect a replacement for imprisoned co-chair Selahattin Demirtas who announced in a letter from jail in January that he would not run for re-election.

He is facing up to 142 years in jail on terror-related charges.

He promised to remain a “servant of the democracy struggle,” doing all he can for HDP and urged people to join the party, saying, “You do not need money, power or a tribe to practice politics in our party. To possess courage and a love for the people in your heart is sufficient.”

The party, which drew support from leftists as well as Kurds, has been the consistent voice opposing what they call the increasing “authoritarianism” of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

After Turkey issued 17 arrest warrants, HDP co-chair Serpil Kemalbay among them, late last week on charges of opposing Operation Olive Branch on the Kurdish canton of Afrin, northern Syria, the party accused the authorities of trying to derail the congress.

“We condemn and protest these unlawful arrests. We want our arrested friends to be released immediately,” read a statement from Kemalbay on Friday.

HDP will hold its congress and come together with hope, determination, and bravery on the scheduled date, she added.

Kemalbay was chosen to replace Figen Yuksekdag after her party membership was revoked by a court following her conviction on terror charges in 2017.

HDP members and supporters have been targeted for investigation and arrest since the parliament voted to lift immunity from a select group of lawmakers in 2016 on terror charges stemming from allegations of ties to the PKK, a named terror organization. HDP denies the accusation.

Nine HDP lawmakers are currently in jail.

HDP has sent invitations to parties of the Kurdistan Region to attend the congress. Busloads of party members from across Turkey traveled to Ankara to take part.

Turkey will hold several elections in 2019 – local elections in March and presidential and parliamentary elections in November. This will be the first time people go to the polls since adopting constitutional amendments that strengthened the presidency in a referendum in April 2017.

http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/11022018
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