The new Turkey
HDP deputies

Last update: 17-Nov-2020 10:26

11 November 2020:
Proceedings Against Parliamentary Members
It is learned from the news coverage of November 10, 2020 that, 5 proceedings demanding lift of impunity of 5 parliamentary members are submitted to Grand National Assembly.

Parliamentary members subjected to proceedings are: HDP İzmir MP Serpil Kemalbay, HDP Tunceli MP Alican Önlü, HDP Iğdır MP Habip Eksik.

9 November 2020:

Ousted Kurdish mayor and 4 others detained

Turkish police in dawn raids on Monday detained the former co-mayor of Cizre in southeastern Şırnak province from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the HDP district co-chair and three others, the Mesopotamia News Agency reported.

Counterterrorism police reportedly broke down the doors of former co-mayor Berivan Kutlu and Cizre district co-chair Güler Tunç. The government ousted the co-mayor, appointing a trustee in her stead in October 2019. The detainees are being held at the Cizre Police Department, according to Mesopotamia.

Ankara has removed from office 59 of 65 mayors from the HDP, replacing them with government-appointed trustees, over accusations of ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a secessionist Kurdish armed group outlawed by Turkey. The ousted mayors were elected in the local elections of March 2019.

2 October 2020:

Kurdish politicians arrested, mayor replaced by Ankara

2 October 2020:
Turkey arrests four more Kurdish politicians

Following the arrest of 19 Kurdish and pro-Kurdish politicians on Thursday, four more Kurdish politicians were arrested on Friday in southeastern Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır province, Mezopotamya agency reported.

Two of the newly-arrested politicians, Edip Binbir and Çiğdem Ekti, were from the Diyarbakır chapter of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), while Mekiye Güzel worked at MEBYA-DER, an association for the families of persons who lost family members in the Kurdish conflict, and Emin Ay at the Democratic Islam Congress (DİK).

Seven others from HDP and several worker’s unions were released on probation, while HDP’s Sur district council member Ömer Filitoğlu’s detention was prolonged until Monday.

---

Mayor of Kars arrested, replaced with gov’t appointee

Mayor of the eastern Kars province Ayhan Bilgen, who resigned from parliament to run for mayor and won his seat last year from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) following a highly-contested series of recounts, was arrested on Friday, after which the Turkish Interior Ministry removed him from office and appointed the province’s governor as his replacement, daily Evrensel reported.

Bilgen was the last provincial mayor who still held his seat after the Interior Ministry started to dismiss mayors upon terrorism charges without convictions shortly after the 2019 elections. At least 59 of the 65 municipalities HDP won have been replaced with government appointed proxies to date.

Bilgen’s co-mayor Şevin Alaca, who was officially a member of the city council, was also arrested after Bilgen announced his resignation.

Bilgen had wanted to force a re-election from among city council members and avoid a government appointee, a pool which would have included Alaca, and several other council members who were either arrested or dismissed.

Kars governor prays on street after appointment as mayor

Kars Governor Türker Öksüz held Friday prayers in front of the municipality building after he was appointed to replace the province’s dismissed and arrested mayor Ayhan Bilgen.

“The Kars Municipality has been usurped by the palace,” Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Izmir Deputy Murat Çepni said in a tweet. “And this is a prayer of conquest.”

Kars Belediyesi saray tarafından gaspedildi.
Bu da “fetih” namazı!

Kars kayyum darbesi ile yeniden mafyaya teslim edilecek! #KAYBEDECEKSİNİZ https://t.co/miZDQoRQtD

— Murat Çepni (@MuratCepniHDP) October 2, 2020

HDP Diyarbakır Deputy Dersim Dağ called the prayer “an image of occupation, religious abuse, and usurpation of the people’s will.”

HDP Spokeswoman Ebru Günay said: “We know (the arrest decisions) are not made in courthouses. Sycophant media had been writing the indictment and putting on arrest negotiations for days. These arrests have targeted the colorful and pluralistic structure that is the HDP.”

Several HDP deputies started a sit-in in front of the municipality, while police did not allow supporters of the party to join in.

---

Turkish opposition condemns dismissal of HDP mayor

Following the mass arrest of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) politicians and dismissal of the mayor of Kars, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Group Chairman Özgür Özel tweeted out a condemnation of the arrests.

“They reopened the Kobani case six years later, and spewed out fear for the opposition and hate towards Kurds,” Özel said. “They arrested Ayhan Bilgen in spite of the Constitutional Court ruling, and appointed a replacement to the will of Kars where they failed to win at the ballot.”

CHP Deputy Chairman Oğuz Kaan Salıcı said, “When Turkey’s political history is told, these days will be referred to as ‘the squirming of the one-man regime in its period of collapse’! The arrest of HDP members is entirely political. Whatever you do, you will be gone by the first ballot!”

The Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), founded by former minister Ali Babacan, issued a statement calling the replacement mayor appointed to Kars “a coup against democracy.”

Replacing elected mayors with government appointees has “turned into a government routine,” DEVA said in the statement, calling the current situation in Turkey “a bottleneck of democracy that our country has been in for a long time.”

The case against dismissed mayor Bilgen was the same one that the Constitutional Court ruled to be a violation of his rights, it continued. “All appointments of government proxies violate the Constitution and international treaties,” it said.

The DEVA statement also stressed that the Kars city council should have been able to elect another mayor from among itself.

“We would like to remind everyone of a very fundamental piece of information on democracy: Respecting elections and election results is among the most fundamental, indispensable element of democracies.”

Related Articles

1 October 2020:

Pro-Kurdish co-mayor detained after colleague announces resignation

The chief public prosecutor’s office of the eastern city of Kars has ordered the detention of 19 politicians from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on terror charges, including the city’s co-mayor and city council members, the Gazete Duvar news website reported on Thursday.

The police had detained Co-mayor Şevin Alaca as of Thursday morning, HDP deputy Hüda Kaya tweeted.

The detention warrants were issued following a written statement by Ayhan Bilgen, the other Kars co-mayor from the HDP who is currently in police custody, in which he said he would resign from office after his detention, stating that a female mayor would better govern the city.

Critics view the detention of Alaca and city council members as a bid to suppress an attempt by the HDP to choose Alaca as the new mayor after Bilgen announced he would resign, a move that would prompt an election by the city council. Read the full article

25 September 2020:

Turkey seeks arrest of 82 people, including Kurdish opposition figures

Turkey issued detention warrants for 82 people, including major Kurdish political figures, for their suspected involvement in large-scale violent protests in 2014, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday.

Eighteen of the 82 people, including former parliamentary deputies, mayors and ex-party leaders of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), have been detained so far in an operation by counterterrorism units simultaneously covering seven provinces, the news agency said.

Among those apprehended were former deputy and HDP mayor of the city of Kars Ayhan Bilgen, former HDP deputies Ayla Akat Ata, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Altan Tan, Nazmi Gür, Emine Beyza Üstün and Emine Ayna, and Alp Altınörs, a member of the party’s Central Executive Board, it said. Read the full article

24 September 2020:

HDP’s Selahattin Demirtaş faces new indictment 
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has issued a new indictment against Selahattin Demirtaş, the former co-chair of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

Demirtaş’s previous remarks about Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Yüksel Kocaman, who recently made headlines for visiting President Erdoğan following his wedding, were held as the grounds for the accusation in the new indictment, which seeks up to 8 years in prison for Demirtaş on the charges of “threatening,” “targeting public officials involved in the fight against terrorism.” 

17 September 2020:
Turkey issues red notice for ex-opposition lawmaker

Turkish prosecutors on Thursday requested a red notice for a former member of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), according to a judicial source.

Prosecutors in the southeastern Diyarbakir province issued the request for Osman Baydemir, sought for being a member of an armed terrorist group, said the source on the condition of anonymity.

Baydemir is currently living abroad, it added. Turkey’s government accuses the HDP of being linked to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU.

11 September 2020:
HDP deputy Remziye Tosun handed 10-year prison sentence on terrorism charges
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Remziye Tosun has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for "membership of an armed terrorist organization." The court also ruled for the continuation of her international travel ban, considering the amount of the penalty, Mesopotamia Agency (MA) reported.

Tosun was on trial in the case over the conflict in Sur district of the Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır province for "disrupting the unity and integrity of the state" and "membership of a terrorist organization."

Forty-seven people, 26 of whom are currently remanded in custody, were stranded in Diyarbakır amid the conflict due to curfews. While Tosun didn't attend the hearing, her attorney Muharrem Şahin was preseent in the courtroom.

When the decision becomes final, two copies shall be sent to the Parliament's secretariat and the Ministry of Justice General Directorate of Penalties. Read the full article

19 August 2020:

Turkey has removed 146 mayors from Kurdish parties in 4 years, HDP report says

19 August 2020:
The Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on Tuesday published an 84-page report on the removal of HDP mayors in the last four years, after the passage of a law that authorized the Turkish Interior Ministry to remove elected local officials.

The report indicated that in this period 146 mayors from the HDP and other regional Kurdish parties were removed by the ministry.

Fifty-one of them were elected in the local polls of March 2019 and the remainder in 2015.

Kurdish parties won 102 mayoral offices in 2015 and 63 in last year’s elections.

Ahmet Türk, a 78-year-old Kurdish politician, was removed from office in southeastern Mardin province in 2016, and although he was reelected in 2019, he was again suspended by the ministry five months later.

The legislation authorizing the ministry to remove elected officials was among numerous government decrees issued under a two-year-long state of emergency declared after a 2016 coup attempt.

The HDP report also focuses on assimilation politics — attempts to erase the Kurdish identity of the predominantly Kurdish southeastern provinces.

The party’s mayors often introduced multilingual signboards and led initiatives to promote Kurdish language and culture in the region.

However, trustees appointed by the ministry after the suspension of the mayors removed the signs and halted those activities, as well as hanging the Turkish flag on all municipal buildings.

The trustees also changed street and building names that reflected Kurdish culture.

According to the report the trustees were also engaged in large-scale corruption and nepotism.

18 August 2020:

Over 80 pct of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP municipalities seized by gov't - report

The Turkish government is pursuing a “coup policy’’ in the country’s Kurdish majority east and southeast, where 81 percent of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) municipalities have been seized by the ruling party since 2016, a HDP report published on Tuesday said.

A total of 51 of Turkey’s 63 HDP-won municipalities have been seized by the Turkish government over the last year, while a total 146 state-appointed officials have been assigned to HDP municipalities over the last four years, Birgün cited the report as saying.

The government accuses the HDP of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), an armed group that has been at war for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for almost 40 years. Since the failed coup attempt of 2016, Ankara has intensified a crackdown on the group, detaining at least 20 HDP mayors and taking over municipalities run by the pro-Kurdish party.

“(Turkish President Recep) Tayyip Erdoğan is a putschist,’’ HDP co-chair Garo Paylan, who shared the report, said. “The will of the people is currently under arrest. Our co mayors, members of city council and elected officials are unable to do their jobs. We demand they are returned to their posts.’’

16 July 2020:

Pro-Kurdish HDP co-chairs detained in western, southwestern Turkey

Turkish police detained on Saturday two co-chairs of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in the western province of Aydın and southeastern province of Muş.

The HDP co-chair of Ortaklar in Aydın, Tekin Erikli, and HDP’s Muş co-chair, Abdulbari Yiğit, were detained in morning raids to their homes, Artı Gerçek news site reported. Erikli’s detention is due to social media posts, while the reason for Yiğit’s detention remains unknown, it said.

The Turkish government has long accused the HDP of sympathising and acting in the interest of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK),  an armed group that has been at war in Turkey for Kurdish self-rule for over 30 years.

7 July 2020:

Turkey arrests Batman mayor, senior local officials

Turkish authorities detained the mayor of Turkey’s eastern province of Batman, alongside seven members of the municipal council, on Monday after they sought to hold a meeting at the municipality despite police restraint, Diken news website said.

Citing measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, police blocked the entrance to the municipality as the group was set to hold a meeting, which resulted in a brawl with local officials from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), it said. The police did not present any notice that prevents public meetings, Diken quoted one of the municipal council members as saying.

4 June 2020:

Turkey incarcerates three opposition MPs stripped of parliamentary immunity

Three opposition politicians stripped of their parliamentary seats have been detained and sent to jail.

A prosecutor in Turkey’s majority-Kurdish southeastern Diyarbakır province had issued arrest warrants for two Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies on Thursday night, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Pro-Kurdish HDP’s former Hakkari deputy Leyla Güven and former Diyarbakır deputy Musa Farisoğulları were stripped of their seats in a parliamentary session earlier in the day based on finalised court orders over terrorism charges.

Farisoğulları was detained by the police on his way from Diyarbakır to the capital Ankara shortly after the warrant was issued. About an hour later, Güven was taken into custody from her home.

Saray Darbesiyle vekilliği düşürülen DTK Eşbaşkanı ve Hakkari Milletvekilimiz Leyla Güven de gözaltına alındı. İşte darbe budur. Seçmen iradesinin temsilcisi bir siyasetçinin evine onlarca polisle baskın yapmaktır. İntikamcılıktır Berxwedan Jiyan e diyenleri yıldıramayacaksınız! pic.twitter.com/NYs1rqthJJ

— HDP (@HDPgenelmerkezi) June 4, 2020

The third deputy stripped of his seat, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) member Enis Berberoğlu, was detained an hour after Güven. Berberoğlu had announced earlier that he would be going to the court house early Friday morning of his own volition.

"Why such tyranny for a person who would go to the prosecutor's office himself tomorrow?" tweeted CHP deputy Tuncay Özkan as he announced Berberoğlu's detention.

Enis Berberoğlu İstanbul’da şu an gözaltında. Vatan emniyete götürülüyor. Neden? Bunca zulm neden? Yarın savcıya kendisi gidecek bir insana bunca zalimlik neden? https://t.co/xMeDhGelRx

— Tuncay ÖZKAN (@ATuncayOzkan) June 4, 2020

In 2017, Berberoğlu was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his part in revealing to the public images that appeared to show Turkish intelligence services shipping weapons to Syrian rebels. His sentence was later reduced to five years.

Berberoğlu, who was a deputy in the previous term as well, was released some months after his re-election in 2018. Turkey’s Court of Cassation ruled to suspend his sentence until the end of his term in parliament, which under normal circumstances would have come in 2023.

Leyla Güven was convicted to six years and three months in prison for membership of a terrorist organisation over her attendance to a press conference protesting Turkey’s 2018 Operation Olive Branch into Kurdish-held northern Syrian province of Afrin, and memorial services for members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The indictment against Güven also mentioned her 200-day hunger strike protesting prison conditions for political prisoners and jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who had been held in isolation without contact with his family or lawyers for eight years at the time.

Musa Farisoğulları was convicted to nine years in prison for the same charges, over his alleged attendance to funerals of two PKK members in 2018, as well as a condolence visit to another PKK member’s family. One of the funerals was for Mehmet Yakışır, who directed PKK activity in northern Turkey and was responsible for the death of a 15 year-old boy according to Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu.

Meanwhile, Cemile Eminoğlu, the Mayor of Bismil, a town within the southeastern Diyarbakir province also detained on Thursday, herself notified it over a tweet post. Eminoğlu was replaced by the government trustee in October, 2019.

Gözaltına alınıyorum. #BerxwedanJiyane

— Cemile Eminoğlu (@cemileeminoglu) June 4, 2020

23 May 2020:

Dismissed Kurdish mayor Mızraklı to receive democracy award

The Istanbul branch of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) has announced the winner of its annual Peace and Democracy Award as Selçuk Mızraklı, the dismissed mayor of Turkey’s southeastern Diyarbakır province.

A member of the majority-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Mızraklı won 62 percent of the vote and was elected mayor in Turkey’s biggest Kurdish-majority province in March 2019. He was removed from office on August 19, and arrested on terrorism charges on October 22.

Charges against Mızraklı, who is also a surgeon, stemmed from witness testimony that - in the hospital he worked at - he had treated members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who had been wounded in clashes with Turkish armed forces. Read the full article

17 May 2020:

Dismissed Kurdish mayor arrested over terror charges in eastern Turkey

A former pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) district mayor in Turkey’s eastern province of Muş was arrested on Sunday on charges of conducting terrorist propaganda, pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya news agency reported. Casim Budak was removed from office as the mayor of the Altınova district on Friday, along with three other HDP mayors. The officials have been replaced with government-appointed trustees.

A Muş court ruled for the arrest of Budak following a statement the former mayor gave to the prosecutor's office.

On Friday, the HDP mayor the eastern province of Iğdır, Yaşar Akkuş, and HDP deputy, Eylem Çelik, were detained on terror charges, pro-nationalist news website Ulusal reported. “May my smile trouble you,” Akkuş said on Twitter after he was taken into custody. 

25 April 2020:

Anger over the removal of pro-Kurdish mayors in Turkey

The mix of fury and disappointment among residents was palpable inside a cafe in the southeastern Turkish city of Mardin after the government replaced the popular mayor with a trustee.

One year on from local elections, 40 out of 65 municipalities won by the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) are now under the control of government-appointed trustees. In Mardin, the HDP's Ahmet Turk, won 56.2 percent of the vote in March 2019.

But in August he was one of the first, along with those in nearby Diyarbakir and Van, to be removed and replaced by the government.

Six months after the move, residents in Mardin, where the governor now runs the city of over 800,000 people, were especially critical of a lack of service and development. "No one bothers, no one wants to do anything, and no one raises their voice. We're speaking to you now, who knows what will happen to us tomorrow?" cafe manager Firat Kayatar told AFP during a visit late February.

"They may as well not hold elections in the southeast because they had two elections and after both, they appointed trustees," Kayatar, who lives in the old city, said. "No one listens anyway," one of the cafe's customers, Abdulaziz, 57, chipped in. "We can't complain to anyone. (The governor) brings bananas but we need bread."

Another man nearby who did not give his name said young people went to university but were unable to find a job. "This is the problem Mardin faces too," he says.

The party described the mayors' removals as an "attack" on Kurds but the government has accused the HDP of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Kurds make up around 20 percent of Turkey's overall population.

The HDP accused Ankara last month of making it "even harder for the Kurds to fight the coronavirus" through the "repression of Kurdish democratic institutions, their municipalities in particular."

Such actions are not new. Ankara removed 95 HDP mayors after the party won 102 municipalities in 2014.

"When it comes to the HDP, just slapping trumped-up terror charges is the easiest way to go and it's just a political attempt to destroy their legitimacy," said Turkey director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) Emma Sinclair-Webb.

- 'PKK representatives' -

The chairman in Mardin for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party defended the government's actions, accusing the PKK of using the HDP mayors to obtain control.

"In fact these mayors were Qandil representatives," Faruk Kilic said, referring to where the PKK leadership and rear bases are located in a mountainous region in Iraq. "None of the mayors made statements of their own independent will," Kilic added, a claim which the HDP strongly denies.

The Turkish government has repeatedly accused the HDP mayors of using the municipalities' money to support the PKK, or hiring relatives of PKK militants.

The interior ministry claimed some mayors attended political rallies, demonstrations and even funerals of PKK militants. The HDP says 21 of its mayors are behind bars. The PKK has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, and the group is blacklisted as a terror organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.

The government's aim was to "collapse any distinction between the HDP, a legal party playing by the rules of the game in parliament and democratically-elected representatives from this party, and an armed organisation," HRW's Sinclair-Webb said.

- Economic motives -

Veteran Kurdish politician Turk was acquitted in February in one case cited against him when he was removed as mayor of Mardin the first time in 2016. The AKP's Kilic said if mayors were later acquitted on the charges against them, they would return to their posts, but added "there's evidence against many" charged.

Eren Keskin, of the Ankara-based Human Rights Association (IHD), believed there was an "economic" motive to the dismissals. "The first municipalities they appointed a trustee for -- Diyarbakir, Mardin and Van -- are provinces that are really open to economic development," Keskin said.

Her claim was supported by HDP deputy chairman Saruhan Oluc, who said the government "keeps itself strong through the income and profit from local administrations".

Oluc accused the government of handing out money and favours to their allies as well as companies and foundations close to them through the municipalities' coffers.

9 April 2020:

Turkish prosecutors level new terrorism-related charges against jailed Diyarbakır mayor

Ankara prosecutors have drafted an indictment for Selçuk Mızraklı, the former mayor of the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakır, for allegedly disseminating terrorist propaganda, the Bianet news website reported on Thursday.

Mızraklı had already been sentenced to nine years, four months in prison in March for alleged membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), based on an informant’s testimony as well as his attendance at events and demonstrations.

Similarly, the new indictment referred to six events he attended as evidence for charging him with disseminating terrorist propaganda.

His participation in meetings held by his party, the Kurdish-oriented Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), an HDP-organized conference on the crises in the Middle East and his support for a hunger strike by HDP deputy Leyla Güven as well as his tweets about Ramin Hossein Penahi, a Kurdish activist executed in Iran, were cited in the indictment. Read the full article

15 May 2020:

HDP Slams Appointment of Trustees: 30 Million People's Will Usurped in Five Years
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Mithat Sancar has held a statement for the press about the recent appointment of trustees to the HDP municipalities in Siirt, Iğdır, Baykan, Kurtalan and Altınova. Addressing the reporters at the HDP Central Office in Ankara today (May 15), Sancar has said, "It is a coup, it means disregarding democracy. It means destroying the faith that people have in democracy. It is being implemented successively and by being extended over time. The appointment of trustees is also called enmity towards the people."

"This government, using the authorities in its power, is staging a coup by eliminating people's will. With its policy of trustees, the government is bearing enmity towards Kurdish people. The appointment of trustees is the severest and most apparent example of its enmity towards Kurds. The pro-coup mindset of the government manifests itself in other fields as well.

"The government also tried to discipline CHP municipalities with a blackmail through trustees. While the humanity is struggling against the coronavirus outbreak and has chosen to struggle against it with solidarity, the government has sought to eliminate solidarity and organization of the people. Read the full article

8 April 2020:
A year after local polls, Turkey’s Kurds left with only third of gains

28 March 2020:

HDP mayor faces terrorism charges over ‘planting green beans’

A court in Turkey’s southeastern Mardin province has pushed forward with terrorism charges against a dismissed mayor from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) over her municipality’s support for women’s cooperatives, which were planting green beans, news site Duvar reported on Saturday.

The court cited former Mazıdağı district mayor Nalan Özaydın’s support for the Sarya Women’s Cooperative, founded by a group of women in Mardin, as evidence of her involvement with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Sarya Women’s Cooperative was founded last year after the March 31 local elections, and had started its work by planting green beans in a three-hectare plot, after which the women sold the harvest and launched more agricultural projects in several villages.

The indictment against the former mayor cited assemblies, communes and cooperatives as part of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), which Turkey considers to be affiliated with the PKK.

Özaydın, who was dismissed on Nov. 15 and arrested on Nov. 26 last year, was charged with membership of a terrorist organisation with an indictment based on secret witness testimony that appeared word for word in several other cases, Duvar said.

Other evidence in the indictment included secret witness testimony that Özaydın met with an alleged terrorist, who told another person that the mayor would “no longer be asked for money.”

23 March 2020:

Turkey detains 5 more Kurdish mayors amid widening crackdown against HDP

Turkish authorities detained the mayors of five municipalities in Kurdish-majority areas on Monday as part of a widening government crackdown on the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the party’s co-leader said, according to Reuters.

Mithat Sancar told reporters security forces had besieged municipal buildings in the southeastern province of Batman as well as those in the Egil, Silvan, Lice and Ergani districts of Diyarbakir province on Monday morning.

He said five co-mayors in four municipalities were detained. He did not give details about the mayor of Lice but said another co-mayor who had previously been dismissed was also being held.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government accuse the HDP of 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.

The HDP appoints one male and one female as mayor to promote gender equality, calling them co-mayors, although only one is recognized by the central government.

Sancar said the measures on Monday morning were similar to those taken when Ankara appointed trustees in other municipalities, adding that the party had not received official notification from the central government.

“We reject this vile attempt that displays enmity against Kurds even in these difficult days when the whole world is battling an epidemic,” he said.

The Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Ankara has appointed trustees to 31 municipalities won by the HDP in the March 2019 local elections, an HDP source said, adding that 21 co-mayors had been formally arrested so far, in addition to the six detained on Monday.

The former co-leaders of the HDP have both been jailed since 2016 on terrorism charges, with several other prominent members accused of supporting terrorism over what the government says are links to the PKK.

9 March 2020:

Turkish court sentences pro-Kurdish ex-mayor to nine years in jail

A Turkish court sentenced on Monday the former mayor of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, Selçuk Mızraklı, to nine years and four months in jail over membership in a terrorist organisation, Diken news site reported. 

Mızraklı was removed from office on Aug. 19 alongside two other pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) mayors over links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group that has been at war for Kurdish self rule in Turkey for over three decades.

The PKK is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The HDP mayor was arrested on Oct. 22 with prosecutors demanding a prison sentence of up to 15 years. Turkish authorities have replaced dozens of HDP mayors over links to the PKK since the March 31 local elections last year. 

26 February, 2020

Turkish police detain 14 in pro-Kurdish HDP congress investigation

Turkish police detained on Tuesday 14 people as part of an investigation into the annual congress of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) over the weekend, Hürriyet newspaper reported.

Turkish authorities issued warrants for the detention of 15 people after the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the HDP ordinary congress, which featured a slideshow including photographs of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader, Abdullah Öcalan, it said. 

The PKK is an armed group that has been at war in Turkey for Kurdish autonomy for over three decades. Ankara accuses the HDP of harbouring sympathy and acting in the interest of the PKK.

Police are looking for one more person and the detainees remain in custody at the Ankara Police Department, Hürriyet said. The HDP held is fourth ordinary congress on February 23, electing lawmaker Mithat Sancar and re-electing Pervin Buldan as the party’s co-chairs.

20 February 2020:

Prosecutors file to lift immunity from pro-Kurdish party deputies

A prosecutor’s office in Turkey’s capital city of Ankara has filed requests to lift the parliamentary immunity of five pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputies, T24 news site said on Thursday. Prosecutors presented a summary of proceedings against HDP co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Sezai Temelli alongside 3 other lawmakers to the Turkish Parliamentary Speaker's Office, T24 said.

It was not immediately clear what the accusations against the lawmakers were.
Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has piled constant pressure on the HDP since it became the first pro-Kurdish party to win enough votes to break the country’s 10 per cent electoral threshold in the June 2015 elections.

Shortly after the elections, a peace process broke down between the AKP and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an outlawed armed group that has fought for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey since the 1980s.

Dozens of high-profile HDP politicians and activists have faced legal action since 2015 due to their alleged links to the PKK, including two of the party’s former co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ.
The CHP politicians have been accused of “insulting the president,” a crime with a maximum four-year prison sentence according to the Turkish constitution, which does not clearly define what constitutes an insult.  The Turkish parliament decided to make it possible to lift politicians’ parliamentary immunity in a controversial vote in May 2016.

January 2020:

Trustee-appointed municipalities

In January, three municipal council members were replaced with trustees by the Ministry of Interior. HDP's nine municipal council members were removed from office by the Ministry of Interior in Şırnak-Silopi, Diyarbakır-Sur and Bitlis-Tatvan.

17 February 2020:
HDP MP Under 'Terror' Investigation After Tweeting Footage of 'Car Following Him'
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Van MP Murat Sarısaç has alleged that a car without a license plate has been following him for several days in the Kurdish-majority easter province. In a tweet on Friday (February 14), he said, "The car without a license plate that has been following me for several days was waiting in the yard of the housing estate where I reside."

The people stopped Sarısaç's car and detained Yunus Durdu, an HDP party assembly member on the same day. The state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported the detention as "PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] terrorist found in HDP deputy's home." However, Sarısaç says in the footage he shared on Twitter that the people in the car did not show identity cards. The footage shows the car has a license plate though.

After the detention of Durdu, a separate investigation has been launched against Sarısaç for "aiding and abetting a terrorist organization," "violating Article 6 of the Anti-Terror Law," and "openly insulting a public official because of his/her duty." Sarısaç told Euronews Turkish that he is under investigation for "aiding his party."

15 February 2020:

Kurdish politician acquitted of terrorism charges that led to his removal from office

Prominent Kurdish politician Ahmet Türk, who was ousted from his position as co-mayor of the Mardin Municipality in southeastern Turkey in August 2019, has been acquitted of terrorism charges that were used as a pretext for his removal from office, according to Turkish media reports. Türk is among the dozens of mayors who were elected in the March 31, 2019 local elections from the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) but were later removed from their posts on terrorism charges.

In the latest hearing of his trial at the Mardin 3rd High Criminal Court on Friday, Türk was acquitted of charges of spreading the propaganda of a terrorist organization, namely the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Türk was facing the terrorism charges for attending the funeral ceremony of a Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militant in the Mazıdağı district of Mardin in 2015. Turkey sees the YPG as an extension of the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.

The court ruled for Türk’s acquittal on the grounds that the elements of a crime did not exist. Mazıdağı District Co-mayor Necla Yıldırım, who was also facing the same charges in the same trial, has also been acquitted. Kurdish politicians, particularly members of the HDP, are often accused by Turkish government officials of having ties to the PKK.

7 January 2020:

Jailed former leader of pro-Kurdish HDP fined for insulting Erdoğan

A Turkish court has ruled the jailed former co chair of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Figen Yüksekdağ must pay 1740 TL liras ($ 291) for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The HDP former co-chair, who has been jailed since 2016 on terror related charges , attended Tuesday’s trial via closed-circuit camera system (SEGBİS), Artı Gerçek news site reported.

His lawyer represented Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it said.  "The case in which I am accused of insulting the president is not a trial, but a political method to extend the life of the ruling party,’’ Yüksekdağ said. 

Between 2010 and 2017, 12,893 cases of insulting the president were filed. Of these, 12,305 were filed under the presidency Erdoğan, who assumed office in 2014. Yüksekdağ was arrested in November 2016 along with HDP co-chair, Selahattin Demirtaş.

2 January 2020:

Turkish authorities seize 32 HDP municipalities in 2019

The Turkish government seized control of 32 municipalities and arrested some 4,500 people from the country’s main pro-Kurdish party last year, news site Diken cited a report by the party as saying.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) returned 97 mayors in the polls and regained many of the municipalities the central government took over after 2014 local elections.

But the HDP has faced the same treatment since August, when the authorities arrested three HDP mayors of large cities in the predominantly Kurdish eastern provinces on terrorism charges, imposing government appointees to take over their duties. The tally of arrested mayors has risen to 24 since then, and the authorities have taken control of 32 municipalities.

The government says the HDP has close links to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which began an armed campaign for Kurdish self-rule in 1984. Many of the 4,567 HDP members the party says were arrested last year, and the 797 of these who were formally charged, are accused of supporting the PKK directly or by making propaganda for the group. Turkey, the United States and European Union list the PKK as a terrorist organisation.

20 December 2019:

Two more Kurdish mayors arrested in southeastern Turkey

In an ongoing crackdown on elected mayors from the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), two district co-mayors in the southeastern Turkish province of Muş have been arrested on terrorism charges.

Bulanık district mayor Adnan Topçu and Varto district mayor Ülkü Karaaslan, who were detained in police operations on Wednesday, were arrested on Thursday after appearing in court. They are accused of membership in a terrorist organization and spreading the propaganda of a terrorist organization.

Ankara accuses the HDP of links to militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). It has now replaced around 30 mayors from the HDP on alleged links to terrorism since municipal elections in March.

In August Turkey first removed the mayors of Diyarbakır, Mardin and Van, three metropolitan cities won by the HDP. All the mayors, who were democratically elected in local elections on March 31, have been removed from office by Turkey’s Interior Ministry. The controversial practice of removing and arresting mayors was also widely implemented during Turkey’s two-year-long state of emergency following an attempted coup in 2016.

11 December 2019:

HDP says 6,000 party officials arrested since 2015

A total of 15,530 members of the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) have been detained and 6,000 of them arrested since 2015, according to a report drafted by the HDP, the Bianet news website reported. The HDP publicized the report on rights violations in 2019 on the occasion of Human Rights Day, marked every Dec.10. The report showed that the number of HDP members or officials detained to date 2019 is 674, of whom 200 have been arrested.

The HDP has been one of the main targets of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) particularly after a coup attempt in July 2016, following which the government launched a massive crackdown on its opponents under the pretext of an anti-coup fight.

The report also showed that 20 co-mayors elected from the HDP in the March 31 local elections have been arrested, while 28 co-mayors have been removed from office on terrorism allegations. The controversial practice of removing and arresting mayors was also widely implemented during Turkey’s two-year-long state of emergency following the attempted coup in 2016.

Ankara accuses the HDP of links to militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been waging a bloody war in Turkey’s Southeast since 1984.

6 December 2019:
HDP’s District Co-Mayors in Van Detained

District Co-Mayors of Muradiye, Özalp and Başkale from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) were taken into custody in the early morning hours today (December 6) on the ground that there are ongoing investigations against them conducted by the Van Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

Muradiye Co-Mayors Yılmaz Şalan and Leyla Balkan, Özalp Co-Mayors Yakup Almaç and Dilan Örenci and Başkale Co-Mayors Erkan Acar and Şengül Polat have been brought to the Provincial Directorate of Security in Van after their houses were searched by the security forces. Blockading the municipality buildings, police officers do not allow people to enter or leave the municipalities.

In Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır, HDP's Bağlar Municipal Council member Naşide Buluttekin Can has also been taken into custody. After searching her house, the police took Buluttekin Can to the Anti-Terror Branch of the Diyarbakır Directorate of Security. She was removed from office with HDP's five other municipal council members on October 22 and a trustee was appointed. (HA/SD)

6 December 2019:

Turkey detains 5 more Kurdish co-mayors from HDP
As part of an expanding crackdown on elected mayors from the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), five HDP district co-mayors have been detained in the eastern province of Van on accusations of terrorism, according to Turkish media reports.

Muradiye district co-mayors Yılmaz Şalan and Leyla Balkan, Özalp co-mayors Yakup Almaç and Dilan Örenci and Başkale co-mayor Erkan Acar were detained on Friday as part of an investigation overseen by the Van Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Since the local elections of March 31, a total of 23 HDP mayors have been ousted from office and subsequently arrested. Ankara accuses the HDP of links to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). In August Turkey first removed the mayors of Diyarbakır, Mardin and Van, three metropolitan cities won by the HDP. The controversial practice of removing and arresting mayors was also widely implemented during Turkey’s two-year-long state of emergency following an attempted coup in 2016.

Turkey sends 3 more Kurdish mayors to prison on terror charges

A Turkish court has arrested three district mayors in the country’s Southeast who were previously removed from office by the Interior Ministry, the Turkish media reported.Savur district Co-mayor Gülistan Öncü, Mazıdağı district Co-mayor Nalan Özaydın and Derik district Co-mayor Mülkiye Esmez, all in Mardin province, who were detained following police raids on Nov.15, were arrested on Tuesday.

The mayors face charges of membership in a terrorist organization.

Ankara accuses the the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) of links to militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). It has now replaced some 15 mayors from the HDP on alleged links to terrorism since municipal elections in March. In August Turkey first removed the mayors of Diyarbakır, Mardin and Van, three metropolitan cities won by the HDP.

All the mayors, who were democratically elected in local elections on March 31, have been removed from office by Turkey’s Interior Ministry.

28 November 2019:
Thousands of pro-Kurdish party members detained in Turkey since 2015

13 November 2019:
Four HDP Mayors Replaced with Trustees

24 October 2019:
Turkish Parliament receives 30 summaries of proceedings for 19 HDP deputies

22 October 2019:
Trustees Appointed to 4 HDP Municipalities

18 October 2019:
Turkish authorities arrest, replace mayors in Kurdish-majority Hakkari province

10 October 2019:
Prosecutor seeks 30 years for Kurdish mayor removed from office by Turkish gov’t

8 October 2019:
HDP deputies face highest number of requests to revoke their immunity

4 October 2019:
Former HDP deputy released from prison after Turkey's Constitutional Court ruling

30 September 2019:
Police Attack ‘Democracy Watch’ in İstanbul, HDP MP Kemal Bülbül Hospitalized

14 September 2019:
Pro-Kurdish MP Güven under investigation for terror propaganda

3 September 2019:
2 Kurdish mayors challenge Interior Ministry’s expulsion decision in court

Turkey sentences 41 ex-mayors from Kurdish party to nearly 260 years in prison

Turkey prosecutor seeks arrest of 16 pro-Kurd politicians before elections

The Status of HDP MPs by September 2017

3 HDP branch chairmen in İstanbul detained for supporting deputy on hunger strike

2 more jailed Kurdish politicians to start hunger strike protesting visitor
ban on PKK leader