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The EU looks on as the HDP – and democracy itself – falls victim to Erdoğan
By:   []
Date: None

There is no doubt that current events in Turkey violate democratic procedures, personal and political rights and any obligation Turkey has as a member of international organisations such as the Council of Europe. Over the years, the EU has seen the Turkish government exert increasing pressure against the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), attempting to characterise it as a ‘terrorist party’ and ban it.

The latest attack against the HDP – the main pro-Kurdish opposition party and the third-largest party in the Turkish Parliament – comes from a top public prosecutor, who filed a lawsuit on 17 March 2021 with the country’s Constitutional Court to ban the HDP for being a party that fosters and supports terrorism.

On the same day, the government stripped HDP politician Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu of his status as an MP, in what an EU former rapporteur on Turkey branded an “illegal, immoral and cowardly act”. Gergerlioğlu is a human rights activist who has dedicated his political career to fighting discrimination and rights abuses, both in his constituency in the province of Kocaeli and across the whole country. But his actions are considered subversive and he stands accused of “fostering terrorist actions”, following a single controversial social media post in 2016.

Unfortunately, HDP politicians have often been victims of political prosecutions. Dilek Hatipoğlu, former mayor of the eastern province of Hakkari, was sentenced to 16 years and three months in prison in 2016, accused of ‘misconduct of office’. Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, former co-leaders of the HDP, are also in prison. The party’s MPs, some of whom are still under attack, include Garo Paylan, Huda Kaya, Sezai Temelli, Pero Dundar, Fatma Kurtulan and Serpil Kemalbay, as well as Pervin Buldan (co-chair of the HDP’s parliamentary group) and Meral Danis Bestas and Hakkı Saruhan Oluç (deputy chairs). Note that more than 800 summaries of proceedings, case files that will be examined in Parliament, have been brought against HDP MPs since the 2018 general elections.

[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/the-eu-looks-on-as-the-hdp-and-democracy-itself-falls-victim-to-erdo%C4%9Fan/