ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party have begun a protest campaign amid police barriers and intimidation.
Dubbing their demonstration the “Conscience and Justice Watch,” a group of lawmakers from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and their supporters marched to Ekin Ceren Park in Diyarbakir where hundreds of police were stationed with armoured vehicles and water cannons.
HDP said their demonstration had prior approval, but the police at first blocked their entry into the park. Eventually, just 10 HDP members were allowed to enter the park and were not permitted to access shaded areas, Reuters reported.
“Democracy has been under blockade for the past two years,” said HDP’s spokesperson Osman Baydemir. “We are here to appeal to the public of Turkey, to the public of the world, and above all to our conscience.”
He decried the fact that the political party that gained 70 percent of the vote in Diyarbakir was blocked from holding a gathering in a public park.
HDP plans to hold a week of demonstrations. Baydemir pledged his party will not stop until the state of emergency, imposed one year ago after the failed coup, is lifted, and the thousands who have been jailed or lost their jobs see justice.
Thousands of HDP members and supporters, including the party’s two leaders, have been arrested since the failed coup on terror-related charges. Turkey’s ruling AKP alleges HDP has ties to the PKK, a named terrorist organization. HDP denies the charges.
“Six and a half million people cannot be handcuffed,” said Baydemir, referring to the voters who supported his party in the last elections.
Dubbing their demonstration the “Conscience and Justice Watch,” a group of lawmakers from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and their supporters marched to Ekin Ceren Park in Diyarbakir where hundreds of police were stationed with armoured vehicles and water cannons.
HDP said their demonstration had prior approval, but the police at first blocked their entry into the park. Eventually, just 10 HDP members were allowed to enter the park and were not permitted to access shaded areas, Reuters reported.
“Democracy has been under blockade for the past two years,” said HDP’s spokesperson Osman Baydemir. “We are here to appeal to the public of Turkey, to the public of the world, and above all to our conscience.”
He decried the fact that the political party that gained 70 percent of the vote in Diyarbakir was blocked from holding a gathering in a public park.
HDP plans to hold a week of demonstrations. Baydemir pledged his party will not stop until the state of emergency, imposed one year ago after the failed coup, is lifted, and the thousands who have been jailed or lost their jobs see justice.
Thousands of HDP members and supporters, including the party’s two leaders, have been arrested since the failed coup on terror-related charges. Turkey’s ruling AKP alleges HDP has ties to the PKK, a named terrorist organization. HDP denies the charges.
“Six and a half million people cannot be handcuffed,” said Baydemir, referring to the voters who supported his party in the last elections.
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