Gare killings: HDP demands transparency, responds to calls for its closure

Photo: HDP

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The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) officials have criticized the government for not properly informing the public about the killings of soldiers and police officers during a military operation in Iraq's northern region of Kurdistan.

"We want to know the truth. Because this government and previous governments made statements misleading the public before," said the party's co-chair Mithat Sancar during a meeting with Alevi organizations. "This is a massacre. We are saying this clearly."

"If there is really an execution, revealing this and sharing its information with the public is necessary. Execution is a massacre, a crime, according to both international law and humanity," said Sancar.

Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar announced on Sunday (February 14) that 13 "citizens" were executed by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) during the operation in the mountainous Gare area.

Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said on the same day that the PKK "executed civilians."

After the Governor's Office of Malatya announced the identities of 12 of the 13 people, it was revealed that they were police officers and soldiers.

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Meral Danış-Beştaş, the deputy chair of the HDP's parliamentary group, also said that Akar and Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu did not properly inform the parliament in a session they attended on Tuesday.

"What did they do? They read out the General Staff's press bulletin ... No question asked by the public, by the families [of the killed personnel] were answered yesterday," she told a press conference at the parliament. "When these questions were asked, they resorted to slander and propaganda."

"We are facing a government that doesn't take responsibility. The government, which announces the good news when it succeeds in any activity, has the governor make a statement when it fails ... Did the Malatya governor decide to carry out the operation?

"They couldn't give an account of Gare. they tried to cover up their crimes."

Saying that holding people hostage for five or six years was unacceptable, Danış-Beştaş noted that they had previously done negotiations for kidnapped security personnel whereas the government did not choose this method this time.

"We are of course against people's kidnapping and abduction for years. If they have security officers, they should release them immediately," she said.

Calls for the HDP's closure

Senior government officials and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli, an ally of the government, have targeted the HDP since the announcement of the killings.

Bahçeli said that the party should be closed to end the PKK's activities in the parliament.

When asked about his statement, Danış-Beştaş said, "Bahçeli has been saying the same things for years. Let's say the judiciary closed a party, but the HDP, with its program, principles and movement, can't be closed.

"HDP will continue on its way in any case. I say this very clearly. As a party that represents millions of people in this country and that has a group in the parliament as a result of this representation, the HDP will continue its activities to the end."

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(AS/EMK/VK)