Selahattin put HDP Majors & MPs at risk of imprisonment

[Anthea]

HDP mayor arrested

Turkish authorities arrested on Monday a pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) mayor for the central district of Sur in Diyarbakir (Amed) province, southeast Turkey for terror-related charges after temporarily suspending her for three days

Feyme Buluttekin assumed her role in March 2019 but was removed from her position and detained on Friday by the interior ministry for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). She was officially arrested on Monday, according to Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA).

Founded in 2012, the HDP is accused by Ankara of being the political wing of the PKK - a Kurdish armed group, which has struggled against Turkey for decades for the cultural and political rights of Kurds in Turkey. Turkey sees the group as a terrorist organization.

Buluttekin is accused of being a member of and propagating the PKK, insulting the Turkish state and nation as well as attending the funeral of a PKK fighter, AA reported, citing security sources.

The HDP has described her detention as “anti-democratic.”

“Anti-democratic attacks on HDP municipalities continue. Last night, Filiz Buluttekin, elected as co-mayor of Sur in March with 60% of the vote, was arrested in a raid on her home. Police have also blockaded the Sur municipality,” it said in a tweet.

So far, out of 65 HDP mayors, over 30 have been removed from office since local elections in March, and several of them have been arrested. Additionally, 14 HDP candidates who won election had not been given official certification of their win by the electoral commission, according to a November report by the Diyarbakir office of the Human Rights Association (IHD).

The removed HDP officials are usually replaced with pro-government administrators or their deputies - who are mostly from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The HDP mediated between Turkey and the PKK before 2013 which resulted in the birth of a ceasefire between both sides, lasting two and a half years. However, armed clashes resumed in July 2015 and many Kurdish-populated areas, including the Sur district, were partially destroyed.

Following a failed coup attempt in July 2016, blamed on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s former ally Fethullah Gulen, Turkish security forces cracked down on dissidents, including the HDP, despite the party’s condemnation of the putsch.

Both the HDP co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, and several other HDP officials and members were detained in November 2016 on terror-related charges. Most of them still remain in jail.

A report by the HDP, covering the Turkish government’s crackdown between March and November, indicates that 24 mayors have been removed and 13 detained during this period.

The party has coined the replacements as a “trustee regime.”

“We codify the trustees' appointments as a continuation of the denial policy against the Kurds for hundreds of years, and we call this period the name ‘The Trustee Regime’. This regime is built on evil and seizure; based on memocide and culturocide; it is a misogynist and a regime that takes all kinds of unearned income, corruption and irregularities as an example,” read the 31-page report.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... y/23122019

[Anthea]

Five more Kurdish mayors
detained in Turkey

Turkey detained five pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) mayors early Monday morning after dismissing them from their posts

Batman Mayor Mehmet Demir, Diyarbakır’s Silvan District Mayor Naşide Toprak, Ergani District Mayor Ahmet Kaya, Lice Mayor Tarık Mercan and Eğil District Mayor Mustafa Akkul were taken into custody, according to state media outlet the Daily Sabah, in a continued crackdown on the HDP.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) accuse the HDP of being linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is designated by Turkey as a terrorist organization. The HDP denies affiliation with the PKK.

HDP party co-leader Mithat Sancar told reporters that security forces stormed municipality buildings early Monday morning.

"We reject with hatred this vile attempt that does not shy away from showing enmity against Kurds even in these difficult days when the whole world is battling an epidemic," Sancar told Reuters.

The responsibilities of the mayors of the eastern province of Batman, as well as the Silvan, Lice and Ergani districts in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır have been delegated to appointees, says the newspaper Cumhuriyet.

Police have detained 16 people in front of Batman city hall protesting the decision to remove the mayor, according to Cumhuriyet.

Founded in 2012, the HDP has stood in opposition to the government of Erdogan.

Thirty-six HDP mayors have been removed from their post since last year’s local elections and thousands of its members and supporters have been arrested.

Judicial proceedings against the HDP, “will be very intense,” Erdogan told reporters in February, according to state media outlet Anadolu Agency. “New files may arrive anytime, because everything is in plain sight. Everything they do constitutes a crime,” he added.

The first removal of the newly-elected HDP mayors came on August 19 2019, when the mayors of major cities Diyarbakir, Mardin and Van were ousted. HDP candidates did well in Kurdish-majority areas of Turkey’s southeast. In other regions of the country, HDP supported the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidates. This strategy is credited with contributing to the success of CHP in these areas, especially in Istanbul, home to millions of Kurds.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... y/23032020

[Anthea]

Four HDP mayors
dismissed from office

Turkish authorities removed from office and detained four mayors belonging to the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) early on Friday for their alleged relations with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in yet another wave of party member dismissal from governance

Turkey's interior ministry removed and detained Yasar Akkus mayor of Igdir, Berivan Helen Isik mayor of Siirt, Ramazan Sarsilmaz mayor of Baykan and Baran Akgul mayor of Kurtalan for terror-related allegations, reported the pro-government Milliyet news outlet.

The detentions were also reported by the state-owned Anadolu Agency (AA), which added that Isik’s assistant Peymandara Turhan had also been detained.

Milliyet added that the governor of Siirt has already assigned pro-goverment trustees to Baykan and Kurtalan municipalities.

The HDP condemned Friday’s raids, claiming the decision came from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rather than the courts.

“Our Igdir, Siirt, Kurtalan and Baykan municipalities have been seized by the AKP government this morning. The Erdogan regime once again showed its hostility to the will of Kurdish people. We will not bow down to this regime's undemocratic practices,” the HDP said on Twitter.

The leftist party is accused by Ankara of being the political wing of the PKK, which has been involved in a decades-long conflict with the Turkish state in pursuit of cultural and political rights for Kurds in the country. The PKK is regarded as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.

The HDP has denied organic links to the Kurdish rebels. However, unlike other parties and the government, it does not view the PKK as a terrorist organization and has expressed its respect for the ideology of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Some of the dismissed HDP mayors have been accused of using their municipality budgets to assist the group, claims all of them have denied.

HDP mayor count dwindles

The HDP gained 65 of over a thousand municipalities in the March 2019 local elections, but six mayor-elects were prohibiting from taking up office on the grounds that they had previously been dismissed by the government.

The first government crackdown on inaugurated mayors occurred in mid-August, when the mayors of three Kurdish major cities were dismissed.

Raids in 13 provinces swiftly followed, leading to the dismissal of dozens of mayors for terror-related allegations. Most netted by the raids have been detained.

According to official party data sent to Rudaw English, 44 of the 59 HDP mayors have now been dismissed - leaving only 15 of its mayors in office. An HDP deputy, who did not want to be named, told Rudaw English that they expect their mayor in Mus town to soon be removed from their position, according to reports the party has received from its members.

The clampdown has been criticized by international organisations such as the Human Rights Watch and European Parliament.

The move is an affront to the rights of citizens who cast their vote for the mayors, HRW said in February.

“The Turkish authorities’ removal and arrest of democratically elected Kurdish mayors across southeastern Turkey violates voters’ rights,'' read a report by the organization, adding that Ankara has “intensified its attacks” against the HDP in the country.

“Removing, detaining, and putting on trial local Kurdish politicians as armed militants with no compelling evidence of criminal activity seems to be the Turkish government’s preferred way to wipe out political opposition,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“These cases are not linked to any legitimate counterterrorism effort but trample the rights of the mayors and the 1.8 million voters who elected them.”

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... y/15052020

[Anthea]

Seizures against HDP continue

In several cities of Northern Kurdistan and Turkey, there were protests for the fourth day in a row against the appointment of trustees to municipalities won by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in the local elections of 31 March 2019

Last Friday, the mayors of five other HDP-run municipalities were arrested and trustees were appointed in their place. The provinces of Siirt and Iğdır were among those affected. 45 of the 65 municipalities in which the HDP emerged as the winner in the March 2019 local elections are now under the rule of the government.

A protest rally was held in Siirt in front of the HDP provincial association. The demo, which was organised by the HDP Women's Council, was attended by deputies Ayşe Sürücü, Dersim Dağ, Ayşe Acar Başaran, Meral Danış Beştaş, Nuran İmir and Remziye Tosun, as well as Songül Korkmaz, the co-mayor of Batman, who had also been deposed, and numerous other women.

The deputy co-chair of the HDP parliamentary group Meral Danış Beştaş highlighted in a speech that the appointment of trustees is illegal as the will of the people is eliminated.

The deposed mayor Songül Korkmaz spoke about her own experiences in Batman and said that the state's action is intended to distance the people from the elected mayors: "However, the people are on our side. If another election was to be held tomorrow, the results would be no different. The government wants to take what it could not achieve at the ballot box. We will continue our work because the people have given us the power to do so."

Further protests took place in Kiziltepe, in several districts of Amed (Diyarbakir), in Cizre, Adana and Hatay.

[Anthea]

HDP speakers detained
outside Ankara office

Officials and members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) publicly addressing state dismissal of its mayors were detained by police in the Turkish capital city of Ankara on Wednesday, the party has announced

Turkey’s interior ministry removed from office and detained HDP mayors in the municipalities of Igdir, Siirt, Baykan, Kurtalan, and Altinova on Friday for alleged links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in yet another wave of a government crackdown on party officials.

The party said on Wednesday that their Ankara province co-chairs and other party members took to the front of their office to read out a statement responding to Friday’s raids but were blocked from doing so by police, who then detained some of those involved.

“Central Executive Member, Ankara provincial co-chair & party members have been detained while they were making a press statement about the latest trustee appointment to our municipalities,”read an English-language tweet from the HDP, which added that the government “cannot intimidate us with such attacks. We will continue to defend people's will."

The HDP did not give a definite total for those arrested, but called for the immediate release of four officials it announced were being held.

The party’s Sanliurfa deputy Omer Ocalan published a video, apparently filmed from above from inside the office, purportedly showing a party member being bundled into a van by police officers.

The HDP is a frequent target of state crackdown, and is accused by Ankara of being the political wing of the PKK, which has been involved in a decades-long conflict with the Turkish state in pursuit of cultural and political rights for Kurds in the country.

The HDP has denied organic links to the Kurdish rebels - but unlike the state or other Turkish political parties, it does not view the PKK as a terrorist organization and has expressed its respect for the ideology of jailed party leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The party won 65 of over a thousand municipalities in the March 2019 local elections, but six mayor-elects were banned from taking up office on the grounds that they had been previously dismissed by the government.

According to official party data sent to Rudaw English, only 14 of the HDP mayors remain in office.

EU backlash

The European Union has released two statements condemning the removal of the mayors this week.

Anders Knape, president of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, said on Tuesday that Ankara continues dismissing Kurdish mayors “even during the current COVID-19 pandemic.”

“[T]he excessive use of legal proceedings against local elected representatives and their replacement by state appointed officials is not only an affront to those who stand up for free and fair elections, it is also a serious and permanent threat to the proper functioning of local democracy in Turkey,“ he added.

The European External Action Service (EEAS), which manages the EU’s diplomatic relations with other states, said Monday that the recent dismissal of five mayors belonging to the HDP in southeast Turkey “appear to be politically motivated.”

“Decisions and actions taken by the Turkish authorities against municipalities with mayors from opposition parties remain of deep concern, in particular when they appear to be politically motivated,” it added.

Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, HDP deputy and a member of Turkish parliament’s Human Rights Committee told Rudaw English on Tuesday that the EU has failed to show “strong reactions” against human rights violations in Turkey, for fear Ankara could set a new wave of refugees upon Europe.

“The European Union does not show strong reactions with some concerns. There have been crises about refugees. Following these crises, after Erdogan has used the refugees as a political card, the European Union spends the day with prudent condemnation,” said Gergerlioglu.

He called on the EU to replace its “prudent” condemnations of Ankara with “stricter language.”

“The European Union should use a stricter language and apply stricter sanctions because the appointment of trustees clearly means disregarding the will of the people. It is an incredible massacre of democracy.”

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... y/20052020

[Anthea]

Turkish authorities
detain 18 tied to HDP

Turkish police detained at least 18 people belonging or tied to the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), including women's rights group members, on Friday as part of an anti-terror operation, according to state media, in the third wave of HDP-related arrests in a week

The 18 detained in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir include officials from the HDP and other groups affiliated to the party, the state-owned TRT news outlet reported, and police are continuing their search for 3 other people.

HDP spokesperson Ebru Guney confirmed in a press conference that some current and former HDP officials have been detained, calling for their release.

Though raids on the HDP and affiliated groups are frequent, it is rare that so many women, who worked for two HDP-tied women's rights associations, were among the detained.

Rosa Women’s Association, unofficially linked to the HDP, said that four of its officials and members were detained at 5 am in police raids on their homes in Diyarbakir, including association head Adalet Kaya.

“Search continues at our association’s office,” a tweet from the association read at 10 am on Friday.

“We have worked and fought ceaselessly [for our rights] in an environment where women are subjected to violence since the foundation of our association. We will never accept today’s unlawful act against our association,” the group added, calling for the “immediate” release of the detainees.

The independent Bianet news outlet reported that two activists from the Free Women’s Movement (TJA), another group with unofficially links with the HDP, were also detained. The remaining officials belonged to the HDP itself and its sister Democratic Regions Party (DBP).

Gunay called for the release of all today’s detainees, especially those from both women associations.

“Rosa Women’s Association is the only association that fights violence against women in the region but it was raided this morning,” she said, claiming that the government wants to protect perpetrators of gender-based violence by targeting women's groups.

The HDP is accused by Ankara of being the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - an armed group involved in a decades-long conflict with the Turkish state in pursuit of cultural and political rights for Kurds in the country.

The party has denied organic links to the Kurdish rebels - but unlike the state or other Turkish political parties, it does not view the PKK as a terrorist organization and has expressed its respect for the ideology of jailed party leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Turkey’s interior ministry removed from office and detained HDP mayors in the municipalities of Igdir, Siirt, Baykan, Kurtalan, and Altinova last Friday for alleged links with the PKK in yet another wave of a government crackdown on party officials.

The HDP said on Wednesday that their Ankara province co-chairs and other party members were blocked from taking to the front of their office to read out a statement responding to Friday’s raids by police, who then detained some of those involved.

The party won 65 of over a thousand municipalities in the March 2019 local elections. Only 14 of the HDP mayors remain in office, according to official party data sent to Rudaw English earlier this month.

Proceedings to strip 19 HDP lawmakers of parliamentary immunity for trial for alleged links to the PKK are underway, pro-HDP news outlet ANF reported on Friday.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... /220520202

[Anthea]

Batman HDP Provincial
co-chairs taken into custody

Batman HDP Provincial co-chairs Ömer Kutlu and Fatma Albay were taken into custody after the police raided the HDP building for two hours

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Batman provincial building was searched by police allegedly on the pretext that photos of Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan were seen at actions outside the building.

HDP deputies Ayşe Acar Başaran, Mehmet Rüştü Tiryaki, Dr. Nejdet Ipekyüz and lawyers were present while the police searched the building.

Party's executives and members waited outside the building.

Police seized photographs of Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan, PKK Haki Karer, Sakine Cansiz as well as digital material.

Batman Provincial co-chairs Ömer Kutlu and Fatma Albay were taken into custody.

[Anthea]

Court rules to continue to keep Yüksekdağ and Demirtaş in jail

The Court has decided to continue the detention of HDP former co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş.

The lawyers of Yüksekdağ and Demirtaş attended the arrest investigation carried out by the 7th Criminal Court of Peace, in Ankara.

Announcing its ruling after the lawyer's defense statements, Ankara 7th Criminal Court of Peace, said that there was no new development in favour of Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ and such to change the detention decision and therefore said the two politicians will remain in prison.

On 20 September 2019, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office decided to remand in custody the People's Democratic Party (HDP) former co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş on the grounds of the Kobanê incidents on 20 September 2019.

[Anthea]

Protests in many Kurdish cities
against new political coup

New protests have been held in Turkey against the detention on Thursday night of HDP MPs Leyla Güven and Musa Farisoğulları after they had been stripped of their parliamentary immunity. CHP Istanbul MP Enis Berberoğlu is now under house arrest after a brief detention

Women have issued statements against this “coup from above” in front of the HDP headquarters in Amed, Batman, Van, Şırnak, Urfa and Hakkari.

Several protests in Turkey were attacked by the police on Friday. At today's rallies, organized by the HDP Women's Council and the "Free Women Movement" (TJA), special attention was drawn to the Kurdish politician Leyla Güven, who is also the co-chair of the civil society organization DTK (Democratic Society Congress). She has already spent many years in Turkish prisons.

Güven became known worldwide through the hunger strike she launched while in Amed prison at the end of 2018 demanding the end of the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan. The hunger strike was joined thousands of people in many countries and in Turkish and Kurdish prisons. Güven was detained in 2018 because she publicly criticized the illegal invasion of Afrin carried out by Turkey.

Amed

Leyla Güven was deliberately targeted by the government because she represents the Kurdish mothers and women, said TJA spokeswoman Ayşe Gökkan in Amed.

Van

Activists in Van held a banner reading: "We are proud of Leyla Güven". Öznur Bartin, the co-chair of the HDP in Van, said: “There are many Leylas in our history. For us, Leyla means resistance, it means fighting for peace and a decent life.”

Şirnak

At the rally in Silopi (Şirnak), HDP MP Nuran Imir described the arrest of Leyla Güven as an attack on all women: The patriarchal mentality is directed against the fight of women and against democracy."

Urfa

In Suruç police prohibited a statement to be read in front of the HDP headquarters. The police threatened to arrest activists. HDP MP Ayşe Sürücü said: "The current government has turned this country into hell." To which the police chief replied: "What is hell for you, for us is heaven."

[Anthea]

HDP raided, co-chairs detained
in Batman's Beşiri district

Anti-terror police units raided the office of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Beşiri district of Batman province late Thursday afternoon.

According to reports, the raid was carried out basing on a “denouncement”. Nobody was allowed to enter the building as the search in the office continued in the presence of the co-chairs and lawyers.

Following a search in the building, HDP district co-chairs Hasan Şakar and Şefika Çetin were taken into custody.

[Anthea]

Attacks on HDP growing

New repressive attacks against the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan are taking place every day

Last week, the mandate of the MPs Leyla Güven and Musa Farısoğulları was withdrawn. Both MPs were arrested and imprisoned a few hours later. Güven was released after five days because she was close to the end of her current prison sentence. In such a climate of persecution, there is great resentment. The contradiction now extends far beyond the electorate of the HDP.

HDP member of parliament Mahmut Toğrul spoke to ANF about the current mood among the population

“The people are very angry”

Repression against the HDP has increased continuously since the run-up to the parliamentary elections on 7 June 2015, tells Toğrul. In contacts with HDP voters, he senses the growing anger among them: "People are aware that repression increases the more the AKP/MHP government comes under pressure.

They associate the intensification of the policy of violence with the decline of the AKP and are very angry, because this policy is an attack on their will and dignity. They are resisting it. Everywhere there is opposition to the attacks.

The people see that the state can only keep itself on its feet by means of violence, and they tell us that. This view is correct, because the AKP uses the security forces and the justice system to organise the attacks on us. The AKP is trying to educate the rest of the social opposition through these attacks.”

Repression at all levels

The HDP deputy continues: “The oppression is primarily directed against the Kurds, but secondly against any opposition to the AKP. Not only Kurds, but also the other opposition circles affected by repression seem to understand what the government is doing here. This is also shown in public surveys.

[Anthea]

68 Kurdish politicians and activists jailed

A Turkish court has sentenced 68 Kurdish politicians and civil activists, including a former mayor, to up to ten years in prison for their alleged links to an umbrella group linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)

A total of 79 people were tried by a court in Malatya province on Wednesday based on charges of membership of a terrorist organization. Eleven of them were acquitted while 68 others were found guilty, T24 reported.

Turkey has detained and sentenced scores of Kurdish politicians, activists and journalists in the last decade for their alleged links to the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella group of a number of parties, including the PKK, which is a deemed a terrorist organization by Ankara. They have all faced terror-related charges.

The cases against the defendants from Cizre, in the Kurdish province of Sirnak province, were launched in 2011. The judges are said to be affiliated to the Fethullah Gulen movement, also known as FETO, which was accused by Ankara for orchestrating the 2016 failed coup attempt.

One of those sentenced on Wednesday is Mehmet Zirig,who was elected mayor of Cizre in March 2019’s local elections on the ticket of the pro-Kurdish, leftist Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). However, he was removed from his position in October of the same year for alleged links to the PKK.

Zirig lashed out at the ruling, claiming that his sentencing proves that the ruling Justice and Development Party, which once enjoyed good relations with Gulen’s movement, still enjoy close ties

“I have been sentenced to six years and three months for the KCK Cizre case which was launched by FETO [linked] prosecutors. This decision proves that the FETO-AKP partnership continues. Neither FETO nor the Palace’s [Turkish presidency] one-man regime can make us retreat from our struggle,” he tweeted.

Most of the HDP’s 59 mayors have been removed from office and replaced by pro-government administrators, or trustees. Some of the removed politicians have been detained, tried, and convicted for their alleged links to the PKK, an armed group which struggles for Kurdish cultural and political rights.

Six HDP mayor-elects were not permitted to even begin their term in office despite their victory in the March 2019 local elections.

Leyla Guven, a veteran Kurdish politician, was impeached in early June for a KCK-related case which dates back to 2009. She was later detained but released soon after, having previously served over six years in jail.

Scores of HDP officials, members and supporters have been detained or officially arrested for similar terror charges, including co-chairs Selahttin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... /240620201

Sadly this is all due to Selahttin Demirtas who openly showed support for both Ocalan and the PKK

[Anthea]

Belarus to extradite
HDP member to Turkey

Human rights advocates in Belarus are calling on authorities to stop the deportation of Kurdish political activist Hicri Mamas back to Turkey, after the Supreme Court of Belarus denied his appeal to avoid extradition

Mamas, a member of the pro-Kurdish, opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), was arrested in the Belarussian capital, Minsk in July 2019 and accused of using a forged passport.

Turkey's Justice Ministry petitioned for Mamas to be deported to Turkey to face charges of "disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state."

Mamas, through his lawyers, insisted he hadn't committed any crimes and claimed that he is being prosecuted "on the basis of political views because he took part in peaceful demonstrations and agitate the youth to join the [HDP], as he himself was its member for some time," a statement from his lawyers read.

"We consider that Hicri Mamas cannot be extradited to Turkey. There he … most likely will be subjected to torture," said Enira Bronitskay, a human rights coordinator at the Belarussian watchdog Human Constanta, in a May statement.

Deputy Prosecutor General Alyaksei Stuk granted Turkey's request on April 23, but lawyers appealed the decision, Belsat reported. With the Supreme Court ruling, all options for appeal have now been exhausted, clearing the way for Mamas’ extradition to Turkey to face charges.

Human Constanta submitted a petition to the UN Human Rights Committee on behalf of Mr. Mamas, which was registered as received on May 11, 2020.

"Under rule 94 of the Committee's rules of procedure, the State party has also been requested not to deport Hicri Mamas to Turkey while his case is under consideration by the Committee," the acknowledgment read, adding: "This request does not imply that any decision has been reached on the substance of the matter under consideration."

Mamas' lawyer in the Belarus appeal, Alena Chekhovich, called the risk that Mamas faces of undergoing torture a "real possibility," adding that the UN Human Rights Committee had yet to issue a finding in the case.

The Foreign Ministry of Belarus, however, says the UN body’s ruling is not binding on their soil, reports Belsat.

The activist is expected to be extradited on July 1, when flights are set to resume between Belarus and Turkey after a temporary suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A spokesperson for the HDP told Rudaw English: "we have no statement at this time."

Turkish courts have leveled the charge of "disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state" against Kurdish activists who have followed calls to form "people's assemblies" in parts of Turkey's southeast, saying that such formations "would not recognize state institutions and would form their own self-governance," according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency.

Greater "autonomy" for Kurds in Turkey has long been a demand by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, (PKK) which took up arms against the Turkish state in the 1980s.

WRONG thousands of Kurds fought and died for an INDEPENDENT KURDISTAN it is only in recent years that certain TRAITOROUS Kurdish leaders have attempted to destroy Kurds dream of INDEPENDENCE

Turkey's long and bloody conflict with the PKK has claimed thousands of lives, including civilians on both sides of the conflict, and evokes powerful and entrenched emotions among all sections of society across the country. A brief period of respite came between 2013 and 2015, when leaders in Ankara and Qandil entered into peace talks, which eventually broke down and hostilities resumed.

Also WRONG Kurds have been fighting and dying for independence for 100 YEARS obviously long before the PKK came into existance

Kurds in Turkey have been subjected to generations of discrimination, ranging from common bigotry and social inequities to discriminatory state policies, such as the banning of the Kurdish language, which remained in effect until 1991.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/world/30062020

[Anthea]

Kurdish mayor attacked by police dogs

Ousted co-mayor of Van’s Edremit Municipality Rojbin Çetin was attacked by police dogs and tortured in her home in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır during a police raid on June 26, 2020, deputy chair of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) parliamentary group Meral Danış Beştaş said in a press conference. Çetin is also a member of HDP’s local governments’ board



Beştaş said “two police dogs were unleashed on Çetin before the police officers entered the house. The dogs bit both her legs and ruptured her flesh … according to the medical report, there is a boot stamp on her waist, her lip is ruptured, there are injuries in many parts of her arms and body.” According to Beştaş, Çetin was alone in her home during the raid and the torture went on for 3,5 hours. The police also prevented Çetin’s lawyer from entering the premises.

Beştaş claimed that the attack on Çetin was deliberately organized and watched by the police officers: “She must have detained by the counterterrorism police but they were accompanied by the special operations team. … We have learned that the police talked to all of the residents in the apartment and warned them against going out or communicating with the outside. They were threatened.”

There have been similar allegations about the Diyarbakır police following a house raid on May 31, 2020, part of an operation to find the suspected killer of a police officer. The two victims had accused the police of letting their dogs attack them during the raid.

Ayşe Acar Başaran, the spokesperson of HDP Women’s Assembly, said Rojbin Çetin was also sexually abused by the police. She was stripped half-naked, her eyes were tied and her photos were taken. Beştaş asked “what are you going to do with these photos? Where are you going to publish them? To which [social media] troll are you going to hand them?”

Diyarbakır police denied the allegations in a statement: “a specially trained search dog held the suspect from her right foot and prevented her from running away after she tried to jump over the balcony door. … To avoid harm to herself and the officers, the suspect was apprehended by the gradual use of force.”

In a press release, Diyarbakır Bar Association also condemned abuse and torture against Rojbin Çetin and said they would file an official complaint against the perpetrators and those hiding them.

Today, HDP deputies have submitted parliamentary questions about the incident to the Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu. The deputies asked if the police were instructed to attack Rojbin Çetin to intimidate the public and if there were any investigations about the incident.

https://stockholmcf.org/ousted-kurdish- ... 5APYxC0TuI

Odd as police dogs are trained to go for the arms in case the person has a weapon !?!

Obviously Rojbin was injured but 3,5 hours of torture and an attack by dogs is extremely doubtful unless they left their false teeth at home (life long dog owner)

[Anthea]

Co-mayor and councilors
detained in Batman

After a period of suspension over pandemic measures, the Municipal Council meetings in Batman are being held now

Co-mayor Songül Korkmaz and councilors were denied access to the building as they wanted to attend the Council meeting for the month of July.

Co-mayor Korkmaz and councilors Şükran Çelebi, Gizem Oğurlu, İlkay Alagöz, Şehriban Aydın, Ayşe Önal, Recep Yargı, Şirin Şen and HDP Batman provincial branch co-chair Ömer Kulplu were taken into custody by the police.