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December 21, 2009
NEWS
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New England Kurdish Association (NEKA)’s Reaction to Closure of Democratic Society Party (DTP)
Kurdishaspect.com
In 1990, the late Turkish leader, Turgut Ozal, was advocating a more liberal political climate. Kurds also wanted to use the open channel through parliament to solve Turkey’s most serious issue in 86 years. Thus, Kurds formed the People’s Labor Party (HEP) and partnered with the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) in order to enter parliament.
The political party closure saga first started in July 1993 with People’s Labor Party (HEP), followed by the closure of the Democracy Party in May 1994 when six DEP deputies, including Leyla Zana, were arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison. DEP was succeeded by the People's Democracy Party (HADEP) in 1994 and lasted until March 2003, despite major arrests of party officials and supporters. HADEP was succeeded by the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) in 2003, which was started in 1997 (that is if HADEP was shut down). DEHAP was merged with the Democratic Society Movement (DTH) in November 2005, which then became known as the Democratic Society Party (DTP).
The Turkish Government closed the Democratic Society Party (DTP) on December 11th, 2009. DTP is the 4th party that advocates for Kurdish rights, which Turkey’s Constitutional Court has shutdown since 1994 and thus averaging a closure about every 4 years. As a part of DTP closure case, Chairman Ahmet Turk and legislator Aysel Tugluk were expelled from parliament. They and 35 other party members were banned from joining any party for five years.
DTP had 21 parliamentarians, eight of which were women, in the 2007 national election. In addition, as a result of the 2009 local election, DTP won 98 mayoral offices in capitals, cities, and towns throughout the Kurdish dominated areas of eastern and southeastern Turkey. DTP won more than 2.11 million votes in the 2009 elections and became the 4th largest party in the Turkish Parliament. Closure of DTP means that 2.11 million Kurdish voices will not be heard in parliament.
After each closure, party officials are either banned from politics, which was the recent case for DTP chairman Ahmet Turk, or imprisoned in the case of Leyla Zana and her colleagues, subsequent to the closure of the Democratic Party (DEP). After each closure, party assets were taken over by the government and party structures were dismantled. Yet, in each case, Kurds insisted on a democratic solution despite closure of their parties or imprisonment and disappearance of their colleagues. Kurds have always insisted that Turkish Grand Parliament is the place where the issue should be discussed.
The irony in this closure case is that current AK Party Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Erdogan, had started "Kurdish Opening". As a part of this opening, there were discussions about Kurdish language departments at major universities and reversing Kurdish place names from Turkish. The "Kurdish opening" was creating a very positive atmosphere in the Kurdish dominated cities and towns but then the closure of DTP came.
The AK government caved into the pressure from the Ultra-Nationalistic Action Party (MHP) and Republican People’s Party (CHP). MHP and CHP are against any rights for the Kurds and they want the state’s 86-year denial policy to continue. As Kurds protested DTP closure in cities and towns across Turkey, the security apparatus armed ultra nationalists who then fired on demonstrators in Istanbul and Bulanik (a small town in predominately Kurdish east) which then caused more protest. This spiral effect has encircled many cities and towns despite the fact that Turkish Security establishment have been using the harsh methods of the 1990s.
Prime Minister Erdogan should be more like Abraham Lincoln, who stood firm in what he believed in, despite all the lives he knew it would cost. The Kurdish issue has been Turkey’s most serious issue since the founding of the Republic and it thus needs strong leaders with serious intentions. The only thing that Erdogan might be losing in the process of working with Kurds is a few nationalistic votes, which have held the country back in the last 86 years.
New England Kurdish Association (NEKA) condemns the ban and sees it as a step against democracy and violation of Kurdish rights. Thus, NEKA urges the international community to condemn the Turkish Government’s actions in shutting down DTP and urges the Turkish government to provide a platform in the parliament for discussing the country’s most serious issue – the Kurdish issue
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