9. Dezember 2019

 

Die folgenden Ausschnitte aus ausgewählten Quellen enthalten Informationen zu oben genannter Fragestellung (Zugriff auf alle Quellen am 9. Dezember 2019):

 

·      Reuters: Turkey replaces four more Kurdish mayors over alleged terror links, 16. November 2019
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-kurds/turkey-replaces-four-more-kurdish-mayors-over-alleged-terror-links-idUSKBN1XQ07P

„President Tayyip Erdogan and his government accuse the HDP [Halkların Demokratik Partisi, english: Peoples' Democratic Party] of having links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, leading to prosecutions of thousands of its members and some leaders. The HDP denies such links.” (Reuters, 16. November 2019)

·      USDOS – US Department of State: Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2018 - Turkey, 13. März 2019
https://www.ecoi.net/de/dokument/2004277.html

„Hundreds of incarcerations were widely viewed as related to freedom of expression. In an example of the government’s use of broad definitions of terror to prosecute and intimidate critics, in June, authorities arrested two teenagers who drew a picture of an electric kettle and wrote the name of the pro-Kurdish HDP on a wall in Istanbul’s Gazi neighborhood. The teens were charged with disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization. The tea kettle reference came from remarks by jailed HDP presidential candidate Demirtas, who had joked, through social media posts by his lawyers, about tweeting via an electric kettle in his prison cell.” (USDOS, 13. März 2019, Section 2a)

„Pro-Kurdish demonstrations of many kinds faced violent police responses throughout the year. For example, police tear gassed and sprayed pressurized water at supporters of the pro-Kurdish HDP celebrating the party’s elections performance in June after the demonstrators began throwing stones at police vehicles.” (USDOS, 13. März 2019, Section 2b)

„The period between the April [2018] announcement of early elections and the vote saw a number of attacks on political party offices, rallies, and members, including some incidents that led to death and serious injury. Violence most commonly targeted the HDP and its campaigners.” (USDOS, 13. März 2019, Section 3)

·      Esen, Berk; Gumuscu, Sebnem: Killing Competitive Authoritarianism Softly - The 2019 Local Elections in Turkey. In: South European Society and Politics, 24:3, S. 317-342, 2019 (verfügbar auf Taylor & Francis Online)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13608746.2019.1691318?needAccess=true

„HDP spent the campaign [for the March 2019 local elections] on the defensive against both government attacks and biased media coverage. During the campaign, HDP activists were attacked, harassed, and detained on numerous occasions to weaken the party organisation, as had also been the case in the 2015 and 2018 general elections.” (Esen/ Gumuscu, 2019, S. 328)

·      Morning Star: Turkey's President files criminal complaint against exiled Kurdish MP for anti-war speech in London, 15. Oktober 2019
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/turkey-president-files-criminal-complaint-against-exiled-kurdish-mp-for-anti-war-speech-in-london

„Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a criminal complaint against a leading exiled Kurdish politician [Osman Baydemir] for a speech he gave in London opposing the invasion and war in Syria. […] Mr Baydemir [former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MP for Urfa] urged the international left to support the anti-war activists in Turkey and support the HDP — the only party in the country to oppose the war. It comes as the HDP and those opposing Turkey’s invasion of the largely Kurdish region of northern Syria are coming under increasing attack from the Turkish state. Party sources told the Star that 151 HDP activists have been detained since the war started with four democratically elected co-mayors arrested yesterday morning. They are being held on trumped-up terrorism charges.” (Morning Star, 15. Oktober 2019)

·      Morning Star: Corbyn condemns Turkish government's crackdown on sister party activists, 21. August 2019
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/corbyn-condemns-turkish-governments-crackdown-on-sister-party-activists

„Jeremy Corbyn broke Labour’s silence today to condemn the crackdown on its Turkish sister party, after hundreds of pro-Kurdish HDP activists were arrested in a series of lightning raids. At least 500 activists and journalists have been rounded up across Turkey this week amid a crackdown on the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). Arrests have mainly taken place in the Kurdish south-east, but also at protests in Istanbul where police have blasted crowds with water cannon. Several MPs had to be rushed to hospital after police targeted them. Mr Corbyn took to Twitter to warn Turkish autocrat Recep Tayyip Erdogan: ‘The arrest of political leaders and activists from the [HDP] is unacceptable.’ ‘Turkey should respect human rights, the rule of law and not undermine its democracy.’ The Labour leader broke the silence after mounting pressure from Kurdish activists in Britain who were dismayed by his party’s failure to speak out sooner.” (Morning Star, 21. August 2019)

·      Kurdistan 24: HDP calls Turkish prisons 'torture centers,' urges UN to take action, 2. März 2018
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/069e9e59-5dd9-4bf4-9831-2c14e4d0a0d7

„Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on Friday called on the United Nations, the European Parliament, and the European Commission to ‘urgently’ take action against alarming levels of torture and other ill-treatment in Turkish prisons. In a press release given to reporters, the opposition party accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's administration and its ultranationalist allies of using prisons and detention centers as ‘key areas for brutally oppressive government policies.’ […] Last month, claims of torture in several prisons made headlines in media outlets run by Kurdish and other opposition parties in Turkey. HDP listed them the prisons as those in Elazig, Bursa, Rize, Mersin, Ankara, and Balikesir provinces, where guards and officials responsible for torture had ‘total impunity.’ […] The HDP said its members and officials now detained were being singled out to be tortured and receive other forms of maltreatment. Last month, claimed the statement, guards at Bursa Prison ordered a roll-call and told inmates to give a military salute. ‘When prisoners, most of whom are jailed HDP officials, refused to do so, they were first cuffed in the back and beaten up brutally, and then kept in solitary confinement with their hands cuffed behind them for eight hours,’ it read.” (Kurdistan 24, 2. März 2018)

·      OSCE - Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights: Republic of Turkey

Early Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, 24. Juni 2018
https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/turkey/397046?download=true

„The CHP [Republican People’s party], HDP, Felicity and İYİ [The Good Party] informed the ODIHR EOM [OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Election Observation Mission] about numerous attacks on campaign offices, vehicles and stands, and obstructions of rallies in Adana, Ankara, Bolu, Bursa, Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Izmir, Kocaeli, Konya, Manisa, Tarsus, Ordu and Van. The HDP reported 114 campaign incidents. According to the Ministry of Interior between 20 April and 21 June [2018], a total of 251 politically-related incidents occurred (78 HDP, 75 AKP [Justice and Development Party], 38 IYI, 32 CHP, 10 MHP [Nationalist Movement Party], 14 Felicity, 2 Patriotic, 2 Free Cause). […]

The HDP informed the ODIHR EOM about detentions of 394 party activists, obstruction of campaign activities, police monitoring and harassment, and being subject to selective application of campaign rules. […] Police in Ankara, Manisa, Istanbul and Bursa confirmed to the ODIHR EOM the incidences of violence and vandalism against the HDP. On 17 May, the Ankara Governor initiated an investigation against a police officer who allegedly disrupted the HDP campaign in central Ankara. On 1 June, campaign premises of HDP were attacked in two locations in Istanbul. On 5 June in Bolu, MHP activists allegedly took down and burned the flags from the HDP party office; the police and the prosecutor launched an investigation. On 5 June, the police dispersed the HDP rally in Ceylanpinar by using pepper spray, although the rally had been approved. On 7 June, the HDP cancelled its campaign rally in Ankara after the governorship stated they were not able to guarantee the security of the rally due to the proximity of an AKP rally. On 6 June in Baskale (Van province), HDP flags were removed from the street by police, while on the same day, the EOM observed AKP flags on the main street of Van that remained from the previous day’s rally. The law obliges contestants to remove campaign materials as soon as a rally is over. On 20 June, 10 HDP supporters including 6 BBC members were detained by the police in Inegol and Osmangazi on terrorism charges; some were released later. […]

On 14 June, a violent shooting incident in Suruc between AKP campaigners and HDP supporters left four people dead and eight injured. […] One of the casualties was the brother of an AKP member of parliament and the other three were HDP supporters. According to the media, 19 HDP activists and one HDP candidate for parliament were detained.” (OSCE, 24. Juni 2018, S. 15)

·      The Atlantic: The Fate of Turkey’s Democracy Lies With the Kurds, 23. Juni 2018
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/06/turkey-erdogan-kurds-vote-hdp-akp/563573/

„This past Sunday, four Kurdish candidates running for office in Turkey’s June 24 elections rolled into the rural town of Hani to rally their supporters. The candidates, along with their campaign team, had been speaking from atop their bus to a crowd of some 150 people for about 10 minutes before a plain-clothes policeman ordered them to leave. The candidates, members of the minority-focused, left-leaning Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), climbed down from the bus and began arguing with the policeman. Suddenly, six armored vehicles rolled in. Roughly 30 security personnel—some wearing ski masks and all carrying automatic rifles—surrounded the rally. Following a tense standoff, the campaigners were allowed to stay. But now, they were encircled by soldiers as a surveillance drone hovered overhead and a police officer videotaped the event. A turret gun on a nearby armored car rotated, occasionally stopping when it landed on the crowd. ‘We’ve been to many towns this week and we didn’t receive treatment like this,’ one campaigner shouted over their jeers. Across Turkey, HDP members on the campaign trail have reported similar incidents of intimidation. As of Friday, at least 375 HDP campaigners had been detained and 18 arrested, according to the party.” (The Atlantic, 23. Juni 2018)

·      Reuters: Jailed Kurdish leader may hold key in Turkish elections, 18. Juni 2018
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-election-kurds/jailed-kurdish-leader-may-hold-key-in-turkish-elections-idUSKBN1JE0LJ

„The outcome of Turkey’s [general] elections on Sunday [24 June 2018] could depend on a jailed presidential candidate’s [Selahattin Demirtas] sway over voters more than 1,200 km (750 miles) away in the country’s largely Kurdish southeast. […] The HDP’s campaigning abilities have been hit by a crackdown which led to 11 of its MPs losing parliamentary status and a similar number jailed on terrorism charges. The state seized control of dozens of municipalities from an HDP affiliate party, arresting mayors and thousands of party members.” (Reuters, 18. Juni 201)

·      DFAT – Australian Government - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: DFAT Country Information Report Turkey, 9. Oktober 2018
https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2019375/country-information-report-turkey.pdf

„Authorities have continued to target pro-Kurdish activists in the post-election period in the context of anti-terrorist raids against the PKK. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported on 11 September 2018 that 180 people, including HDP and DBP [Democratic Regions Party, regional sister party of HDP] activists, had been remanded in custody across Turkey since the election. (DFAT, 9. Oktober 2018, S. 29)

·      GUE/NGL – European United Left/ Nordic Green Left: Persecution Of Mayors, Kurds & Opposition In Turkey, 19. September 2019
https://www.guengl.eu/issues/explainers/persecution-of-mayors-kurds-opposition-in-turkey/

„In November [2016], nine members of parliament including HDP leaders, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, were arrested and detained, and thousands of HDP officials and activists were imprisoned. Demirtaş, who was the HDP’s presidential candidate and achieved third place in the 2014 and 2018 elections, was later sentenced to almost 5 years in prison on the basis of political speeches he had made. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Demirtaş’ detention aimed to limit freedom of political debate and democracy and that he should be released. Despite the fact that the ECHR’s ruling was binding, he remains in prison. While many political opponents have been charged with ‘terrorism’ related offences, their trials have lacked compelling evidence of criminal activity or acts that would reasonably be deemed as terrorism, according to Human Rights Watch.” (GUE/NGL, 19. September 2019)

·      AA - Anadolu Agency: Turkey: 4 DBP party members remanded in terror probe, 5. Dezember 2016
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/turkey-4-dbp-party-members-remanded-in-terror-probe/699748

„A Turkish court in the eastern Elazig province Monday remanded four members of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) in an anti-terrorism investigation, a judicial source said. The suspects were among the six arrested on Nov. 30 [2016] on charges of making terrorist propaganda for the PKK/KCK, the source said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media. The other two suspects were released under judicial control, the source added.” (AA, 5. Dezember 2016)