Human rights violations in Turkey:dozens of Kurdish activists, politicians, women and journalists arrested by Erdogan
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Alaina
- . April 15, 2021
- . Update: April 15, 2021 7:26 pm
Turkish police recently arrested dozens of officials from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic (HDP) and Kurdish human rights activists as prosecutors step up action to ban the country’s third-largest party.
Altogether, representatives from the HDP said at least 36 party members were detained over suspected links to militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Also, the Ankara chief public prosecutor issued 12 arrest warrants for other suspects over their alleged links to the PKK. Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency reported Friday that police had arrested at least ten people. Police also detained 15 more human rights defenders with the false accusation of doing propaganda for the PKK in the southern province of Adana.
Ozturk Turkdogan, head of the Ankara-based Human Rights Association (IHD), was also among those arrested and his house was raided, according to a statement by the organization. “Our lawyers are trying to obtain information about this case. His arrest is a blatant human rights violation. He must be released now,” the IHD tweeted.
Philippe Dam of Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the IHD chief’s detention as “outrageous” and a clear human rights violation by Erdogan’s regime. The arrest of activists is part of the Turkish sultan’s dictatorial plan to silence the voice of the Kurdish minority, in an attempt to cover up the heinous crimes committed by Erdogan and his associates.
The private local DHA news agency reported another 15 current and former HDP executives were also confined in the north-western province of Kocaeli, and the party confirmed one of its administrators had been detained in the central province of Eskisehir.The Turkish government’s persecution of Kurdish rights by arresting Kurdish activists.
The arrests wave comes only two days after a Turkish court began hearings over banning the leftist opposition HDP. The indictment before the Constitutional Court to dissolve the HDP seeks to ban 687 party members from engaging in politics for five years. The court started to work in this direction last week with the appointment of a rapporteur to lead the investigation and provide a report for the court’s 15 magistrates. It is the latest in a series of crackdowns on the HDP since 2016 during which a majority of its elected mayors have been dismissed and replaced by Erdogan and his Muslim Brotherhood party-appointed trustees.
In early April, President Erdogan unveiled a “human rights action plan” saying that Ankara would strengthen the right to a fair trial and the right of freedom of expression. But the plan fails and the Turkish Human Rights associations demand the international community to intervene and stop the malicious plan of the Sultan who believes himself to be Mohammed II.
“Seems the Human Rights Action Plan has become a human rights violation plan,” Emma Sinclair-Webb of HRW tweeted. “The international community must assume its responsibilities and force Erdogan to leave. The Turks want to return to the democracy they paid for in blood, we cannot wait for Erdogan to conduct another sham election”. A human rights defender told “The Arab Post” in anonymity fearing for her life.
The Council of the EU President Charles Michel is programmed to hold a video conference with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen next Friday. After the sofa-gate scandal, the conversations will focus specifically on the women’s rights, who after Erdogan’s decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Agreement are persecuted, mistreated, and killed, without any protection from the State.
