ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Facing the threat of closure because of its advocacy for the rights of Turkey’s Kurdish minority, the co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), herself under investigation for alleged terrorism links, said its members will not give up the struggle, even if the party is shut down.
“Political parties are means or tools for political struggle. The important thing is to continue this struggle,” HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan told Rudaw English late on Saturday.
HDP was founded in 2012 as a pro-Kurdish leftist party. With a diverse group of candidates from devout Muslims, to minority representatives, socialists, and LGBT activists, HDP passed the 10 percent vote threshold and entered the parliament in 2015.
Selahattin Demirtas, the HDP’s former leader along with his co-chair Figen Yuksekdag, gained worldwide attention and was dubbed the Kurdish Obama for his eloquent speaking style and ability to energize voters. He brought the Kurdish issue into mainstream Turkish politics, running for president against Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The party acted as an intermediary during the peace process between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) between 2013 and 2015, short years of hope that the decades-long conflict that left tens of thousands dead might finally come to an end. At least 5,311 people have been killed since the talks fell apart.
Today, hundreds of HDP members and supporters are under investigation or in jail, including Demirtas and Yuksekdag. Most are accused by Turkish authorities of having ties to the PKK, considered a terrorist organization in Turkey.
“Prosecutors used a broad definition of terrorism and threats to national security and in some cases, according to defense lawyers and opposition groups, used what appeared to be legally questionable evidence to file criminal charges against and prosecute a broad range of individuals, including journalists, opposition politicians (primarily of the HDP), activists, and others critical of the government,” the US Department of State wrote in their 2020 report on human rights in Turkey.
In March, Turkey’s chief prosecutor filed a suit in the Constitutional Court seeking the dissolution of the HDP, which refuses to call the PKK a terrorist organization and has expressed respect for the ideology of Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK’s jailed founder.
The indictment was returned to the prosecutor due to “procedural deficiencies,” but the fate of the HDP remains unclear.
Buldan said the party will fight, using every legal and political means they can to prevent its closure -- and if they are shut down, another party will rise in its place.
“In the absence of the HDP, Kurds will continue their freedom struggle with even greater strength through another party,” she said.
For decades, Kurdish parties have been sidelined, prosecuted, and shuttered by the state. The HDP was formed by members of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP). Both parties consider themselves pro-Kurdish and are still in alliance. The HDP is seen as the successor of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), which was founded in 2005 but closed by the Turkish Constitutional Court in 2009 for allegedly trying to divide Turkey.
Other Kurdish-focused parties like the Democratic People’s Party (DEHAP) and People’s Democracy Party (HADEP) have also been banned for alleged links to the PKK.
“HDP is attacked because it is now the largest party protecting Kurdish rights and freedom,” said Buldan. “We were not the first ones to be attacked, and as long as Kurds try to gain their freedom, these attacks will continue in various ways.”
Read the full interview with Pervin Buldan here
