Category Archives: HDP

HDP MP Gergerlioğlu Still Detained, Despite Constitutional Court Ruling – Now His Son Arrested Too

KT News: Despite the 1 July ruling by the Constitutional Court of Turkey that HDP MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu should be released from jail, the MP is still being detained and today his son was arrested when police attacked a Justice Watch vigil outside the Ankara Sincan Prison where his father is being held. HDP…

Turkey’s Top Court Upholds Selahattin Demirtas’ Jail Sentence As Kobane Show Trial Begins

KT News: On the same day as the opening session, on Monday, of the ‘Kobane Trial’ of 108 members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the Turkish Court of Cassation decided to uphold a four-year eight-month sentence against Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned HDP former co-chair. HDP deputy Ümit Dede said yesterday that the timing…

Interview with Hisyar Ozsoy of the HDP on COVID-19 and its Consequences in Turkey

Dr. Jeff Miley interviews Dr. Hisyar Ozsoy, Member of Parliament and Co-Spokesperson of International Affairs for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), about the social and political consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in North Kurdistan and the rest of Turkey, and about the response of the Kurdish freedom movement.   Jeff Miley is a Lecturer of…

“Kurds Have No Friends But The Mountains”

By Muhammad Salah Balaky: Kurds with an estimated population of 35 to 40 million who have been living for centuries in the historical region of Mesepotamia, are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East, inhabiting a mountainous region dividing into Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran, stretching roughly from the northwestren Zagros in Iran…

Release All Political Prisoners In Turkey

Peace in Kurdistan Statement: As of 13 April 2020, Turkey had recorded 61,049 cases of Covid-19 and 1,296 deaths from it. Since the first case was diagnosed on 10 March the toll is rising quickly. Turkey’s prisons are dangerous; the Minister of Justice said that 17 inmates of five prisons had been infected with the…

HDP Urgent Statement: The “Civil Coup” Against Elected Kurdish Metropolitan Mayors in Diyarbakir, Mardin and Van

  By the Central Executive Board, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP): We will not be silenced, we will not be stopped… Our Municipal Co-chairs, who were elected with 63% of the vote in Diyarbakır, 56% of the vote in Mardin and 53% of the vote in Van, have been removed from duty with an Interior Ministry…

Leyla Güven Enters Turkish Parliament One Year After Her Election

KT News: Leyla Güven, the renowned MP for the HDP (People’s Democracy Party), finally took her place in the Turkish Assembly yesterday, more than a year after her election. The MP for Hakkari, who is also co-chair of the DTK (Democratic Society Congress) was elected in last year’s June 24 elections although she was in…

The Assault on Local Democracy Goes On: 259 Kurdish Mukhtars Suspended From Duty!

HDP Statement: Turkish government’s ongoing assault on local democracy has shifted to another field in the run up to the local elections scheduled for late March 2019. This time the target is “mukhtars” in Kurdish provinces (elected headmen of villages and neighborhoods). After President Erdoğan had pointed at them as the next target by saying,…

Solidarity with Jailed Kurdish Mayors and Councillors

Monday 26th February, 18:00-21:00 hrs Committee Room 2, City Hall, London SE1 2AA SPEAKERS: Julie Ward MEP, North West England Jennette Arnold OBE AM, London Assembly member for North East London Margaret Owen OBE, human rights lawyer who has attended many trials of Kurdish politicians Representative from the HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) John Hunt, journalist,…

Statement In Support of Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag – Co-Chairs of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey

By the Peace in Kurdistan Campaign:  On 6 and 7 December 2017 Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairs of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), are to be tried in separate courts in Ankara, Turkey. They face a range of charges accusing them of inciting violence and making propaganda for a terrorist organisation. Figen and Selahattin…

Absence of Evidence at Trial of Gultan Kisanak and Sebahat Tuncel

Peace in Kurdistan Campaign Report: The sixth hearing in the trial of Gultan Kisanak, co-mayor of Dyarbakir, and Sebahat Tuncel, co-leader of the HDP-affiliated DBP, took place on 3 November. It was attended by freelance journalist and editor John Hunt, as a UK observer. The hearing was held in Malatya, 150 miles from Dyarbakir, and…

Torture in Şapatan Village of Şemdinli/Hakkari – Observations of HDP MPs

HDP Statement: Şapatan, a village in Hakkari’s Şemdinli district with a population of 2000, was raided by Turkish police officers on 6 August 2017. The raid occurred after one special operations police officer had been killed during an operation launched by Turkish army and police forces in Şapatan. Allegations that villagers were tortured began to…

Imprisoned HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş and Deputies Join Prison Hunger Strikes

HDP Statement: On 31 March 2017, our co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş and MP Abdullah Zeydan, both held captive in Edirne High Security Prison, have initiated a hunger strike in solidarity with the protest actions of political prisoners across Turkey. The current wave of prison hunger strikes started in early February against systematic rights violations that took…

HDP: Kurdish Villages Under Round-The-Clock Military Curfew

HDP Statement: Military blockades continue in three villages in the town of Nusaybin (Mardin province). In addition to Koruköy, which has been under siege since 11 February 2017, Doğanlı and Kuyular villages have also been under round-the-clock-curfew since 22 February 2017. Entry and exit is prohibited in these three villages. HDP deputies and human rights…

HDP: Revocation of Figen Yüksekdağ’s Parliamentary Membership is Unacceptable

By HDP Central Executive Board: The revocation of HDP Co-Chair Figen Yüksekdağ’s membership in parliament as a fait accompli is unacceptable. The revoking of her position in parliament once again tramples the constitution, and it is an effort to give the government’s political decision the appearance of legality. The Erdoğan-AKP government is trying to overcome…