Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) is continuing with its “Justice and Democracy March” amid police teargas, rubber bullets and widespread detentions.
The HDP is often accused by the ruling party and its ally of being the “political extension” of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara classifies as a terrorist organization. The HDP denies the allegation.
Earlier this month two HDP deputies and one deputy from the main opposition Republican Peoples’ Party (were stripped of their MP status, and dozens of mayors have been removed from their posts in the past few years. At least 23 HDP mayors, including the party’s two former co-leaders, have been jailed so far.
The march began in the far northwestern province of Edirne and the far southeastern province of Hakkari — two places on opposite sides of the country — and the “twin-track” protest is due to converge in the capital.
“Our main objective here is to oppose the destruction and the damage inflicted by the government and its nationalistic ally on all segments of society,” HDP deputy Tuma Celik told Arab News. “The march is a collective symbol that shows to what extent that pressure amounts to.”
Celik, who is one of the leaders of the Edirne march, has contacted NGOs in Turkey during the past couple of weeks to seek nonpartisan support for justice, democratization and a solution to the Kurdish issue.
“No one should make this event an instrument for polarization and tensions,” Celik said. added.
The march is expected to finish in Ankara on June 20. But HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan said the march would continue “until peace, freedoms and democracy” came to Turkey.
Istanbul’s governor’s office banned all demonstrations and protests in the province for a two-week period on June 15. The edict was linked to fight the spread of coronavirus, but it came out just after the HDP launched its march.
Tulay Hatimogullari, the HDP’s lawmaker from the southern province of Adana, took part in the march from Hakkari.
“Despite the high police precautions in the province, the local shoppers as well as the old mothers in the neighborhood greeted us with our party flags,” she told Arab News. “We are marching toward democracy.”
She said the march was aimed at building bridges between different segments of society, across geographical lines and beyond political affiliations.
“Our common denominator is to stand with the oppressed people. Before this march, I already visited several civil society organizations to exchange views about the democratic flaws in the country and the expectations of people. Basically, we support peace, freedom and job opportunities for people. During the pandemic unemployment rose substantially.”
The lawmaker said that the timing of Turkish cross-border airstrikes in Iraqi Kurdistan and the HDP march might be connected, as the strikes started the night before the march did.
“We can’t breathe anymore, as George Floyd said. This march aims to give breath to all citizens in a political, economic and cultural sense,” she added.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
