HDP MP DANIŞ-BEŞTAŞ

Mass detention of HDP politicians aimed at 'weakening the party before elections'

More than 80 members of the HDP, including mayors and former lawmakers, were detained today.

Ruken Tuncel

Mass detention of HDP politicians aimed at 'weakening the party before elections'

(File photo)

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The mass detention of politicians from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) does not have a legal basis and the government aims to weaken the party before elections, according to Meral Danış-Beştaş, the party's parliamentary group deputy chair.

As part of an investigation into the 2014 "Kobani protests" in the Kurdish-majority southeastern provinces, where 46 people were killed in three days, 82 people, including the Kars Mayor Ayhan Bilgen and former lawmakers Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Altan Tan from the HDP have been detained.

Speaking to bianet about the detentions, Danış-Beştaş said, "There is no law, no legal principle. They open an investigation whenever they want, about any time they want."

"Ayhan Bilgen, Altan Tan, Sırrı Süreyya Önder... All of them were investigated over the Kobani incidents and it was understood that they had no responsibility. Investigations are launched again with non-existent evidence," she added.

Recalling the prison sentences given to the HDP's former co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, Danış Beştaş said, "Two sentences were given for the same file. Therefore, a legal assessment can't be made for today's detentions because they are not lawful."

"Our party doesn't have a responsibility in the Kobani incidents. We have repeatedly suggested that a commission be established for the investigation of the events in the parliament, but they were rejected. The perpetrators of losses of lives in those incidents were not caught, did not stand trial, but our party is wanted to pay the price for it.

"There is no legal justification for this operation. This is purely and simply the AKP's [Justice and Development Party] calculations for the election. It wants to weaken our party to be in power alone.

"The only reason that the HDP has been subjected to these attacks for years is its victory on June 7 [2015 elections], that it passed the [election] threshold. The oppression against our party that started at that time is still going on. The HDP remains standing despite all the pressures, its voters are united around their party.

"For this reason, the AKP is trying to open the way for the power by silencing the HDP's voice. Thinking for a minute objectively, everyone can see that these operations are unlawful repression. The ruling party has been carrying out all kinds of attacks for years, using all the means of the state."

What happened in the Kobani protests?

Before the protests held to support Kobani in northern Syria in 2014, those who were waiting in the district of Suruç, Urfa in southeastern Turkey and wanted to cross the border were intervened with pepper gas and rubber bullets. In the meantime, some pictures allegedly showing ISIS militia crossing the border of Turkey were published.

President and ruing AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made statements indicating that they equated PKK with ISIS. While the wounded coming from Kobani were kept waiting on the border, the wounded from ISIS were treated at hospitals. Several news reports were reported in the press, saying "Kobani fell." These news reports were denied every time.
After the HDP made a call to take to the streets against a possible massacre in Kobani, thousands of people protested in Kurdish-majority provinces as well as Ankara and İstanbul. While left parties also supported these protests, deaths also occurred with the onset of police violence. Street conflicts ensued. 42 people lost their lives from October 6 to 12, 2014.

According to a report by the Human Rights Association (İHD), 46 people died, 682 people were wounded and 323 people were arrested in the protests held between October 6 and 8, 2014. As reported by the AA, 31 people lost their lives, 221 citizens and 139 police officers were wounded.

Conducted by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Yüksel Kocaman, the investigation started a year ago. First, the depositions of former jailed HDP Co-Chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş were interrogated as part of this investigation. Released in the trial where he had been arrested pending trial, Demirtaş faced another ruling of arrest as part of this "Kobani investigation" on the same day.

(RT/VK)

hdp vk kobani protests detentions meral danış beştaş peoples' democratic party

Ruken Tuncel

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