Turkey’s new reality, Turkey’s new normal

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It has been 110 days since my home was raided by the police at dawn, I was detained, then arrested. I have been deprived of my family, my friends, my job, and, of course, my freedom.

My friends whose whereabouts, homes and jobs were out in the open, were also woken up from their beds at night, detained, then arrested. They, too, are experiencing the same deprivation.

Reasons for arrest

The allegations put forth as the reasons for our arrests date back to seven years ago. Seven years ago in 2014, ISIS was massacring women, children, young and old in Iraq and Syria, and was invading new territories each day. This bloodcurdling savagery was being watched around the globe, and especially in Turkey, and developments were followed closely.

Everyone will remember that ISIS carried out numerous acts of violence in European cities using suicide bombs, armed aggression, and caused hundreds of deaths and casualties.

ISIS is the culprit of tens of inhuman actions in Europe and in Turkey that caused hundreds of deaths and casualties, such as the attacks on a metro station in London, a museum in Brussels, Charlie Hebdo and nightclubs in Paris. Emboldened and empowered by these actions, ISIS continued its terrorist actions in later periods.

Peaceful protests

This war that ISIS was perpetrating just across the border in 2014 fueled tensions and anxiety about the consequences of the expanding invasion all over the country, but mostly in eastern Turkey, where Kurds were worried about their relatives, friends, and kin living in the neighboring countries.

By August 2014, peaceful protests had begun around the world as well as in Turkey against the bloodcurdling massacres done by ISIS in Kobane.

This was a period when global public opinion increasingly focused its attention on Kobane, and was demanding an intervention on ISIS from the international coalition.

As ISIS kept pushing forward with its effort to invade Kobane, people all over the country started calling on the government in Turkey to be more responsive to the matter and take a stance against ISIS. Within the context of the global common response, public statements, street demonstrations and sit-ins were organized in various cities.

These pro-peace democratic protests, where no violence took place and which aimed to protect Kobane's civilians from a massacre, were happening before the very eyes of the international community.

A crime after 7 years

When the Mürşitpınar border crossing faced imminent danger of breach as a result of the aggressive and murderous advances of ISIS, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) used its social media accounts to call on the public to be more attentive to the matter.

It never incited violence in these calls, it maintained a peaceful and solution-oriented stance and made an effort to protect the democratic basis.

Moreover, during this period, HDP partook in a collaborative platform whose members decided to unite in pro-peace initiatives in coordination with the prime minister and government authorities.

However, despite its peaceful political attitude and efforts to collaborate with the government seven years ago, HDP is now being framed through a fabricated 'criminal' case as the actor that is responsible for the events of that period and the inciter of the violence.

HDP has continued on its path of advocating for policies that uphold the rule of law, peace, equality, democracy, labor rights and women, through its program, bylaws, words and deeds. I am proud to say that I am a part of it and I am happy to contribute to it.

It continues its struggle as one of the lead actors of a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question in the country and within the Middle East region. It has become a pioneer for all political parties by implementing a 50 percent female quota at all levels as well as a co-chairpersonship system that is the manifestation of hearing women's voices at the uppermost echelons.

Hostages

Even now, the party with the highest proportion of women MPs at the Grand National Assemby of Turkey (TBMM) is HDP. HDP became a target of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government with its remarkable success at the June 7, 2015 general elections.

To retaliate, AKP first put an end to the peaceful negotiations of the Kurdish question. 

Then came the arrests: HDP's co-chairs at the time, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, as well as numerous members of parliament, co-mayors, executives, members, and even sympathizers of HDP were arrested and are still held as political hostages.

The fact that these arrests are continuing to this day show that AKP's political grudge is ongoing.

The discomfort of the international community about the workings of the judiciary influence the agenda in Turkey and around the globe.

Against the ECtHR ruling

The clearest indicator of the new reality and new normal in the country is the government authorities' response to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling in the Demirtaş case.

The former co-chair of HDP, Selahattin Demirtaş was not set free despite the ECtHR ruling and was re-arrested on a duplicate case.

On December 22, 2020, the ECtHR Grand Chamber ruled for 'his immediate release' to compensate for the rights violations the Grand Chamber identified, to which the government authorities responded by stating 'the ruling has no significance and will not be taken into consideration.'

In the same vein, the re-arrest of Osman Kavala based on concocted charges on the same day when he was acquitted in the Gezi Trial, which was only held months after his initial arrest; the ruling of the General Assembly of the Constitutional Court on Kavala's individual application that 'his rights to freedom and security were not violated'; and the disregard of the ECtHR ruling that Article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was violated and Kavala had to be released immediately, all point to the crucial issue of the lack of independence of the judiciary.

The ruling that the 18th article of the ECHR was violated clearly points to the political motivations behind the arrests of both Demirtaş and Kavala, and necessitates their immediate release.

These two figures are symbolic cases in that they demonstrate to the international community the state of the judiciary in Turkey.

The new realities and normals in Turkey are manifested also in the fact that Ayhan Bilgen, the former co-mayor of Kars, is still being held in Sincan Prison despite the Constitutional Court ruling to pay him damages for the months of unlawful arrest he was under.

We don't know why we are charged

Because the investigation file was classified, neither we nor our lawyers were allowed to see the contents of the indictment that was admitted on January 7, 2021. We spent 104 days not knowing exactly what we were charged with, or based on what evidence we were arrested. Stripping the defense side of all its rights is also a new Turkey reality.

Neither the prosecutor nor the judge knew that I was no longer a member of the HDP during the period that is subject to the allegations in the indictment. Likewise, Emine Ayna, who was arrested at the same time as me, was never a member of the HDP. These facts should serve as evidence that the prosecution making the allegations is only investigating for show, and the judge will not be able to rule independently with a free will.

As a person following domestic and global political and social developments closely since my 20s, I have always been on the side of democracy, labor, peace and justice. I worked hard for the rights of women, youth, workers, LGBTI+, Kurds, Armenians, Syriacs, namely all oppressed layers of society.

Throughout my life I have been opposed to violence. I only took part in efforts that had a solid human rights and pro-peace foundation.

But now, I am a prisoner, I have been stripped of my freedom because of unfounded allegations that fail to establish a causal link between the events and myself, or my friends.

And this is the new reality and new normal of Turkey...

(BY/NÖ/SG/SD)