Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Pro-Kurdish circles in sight
Erdogan has 700 people arrested
The Erdogan government is increasing the pressure on the pro-Kurdish opposition party HDP. Security forces arrest hundreds of people with alleged PKK connections, including many HDP members.
After the killing of kidnapped compatriots in northern Iraq, more than 700 people were arrested in a major operation in 40 provinces in Turkey. The Interior Ministry announced in Ankara that they are accused of having ties to the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK. Provincial and district leaders of the pro-Kurdish opposition party HDP were among those arrested.
An HDP spokeswoman first confirmed 139 arrests to the German press agency. Among them are at least one provincial chairman and twelve senior party officials. How many of the arrested HDP members were initially unclear.
Turkey began a large-scale military operation against the PKK in the northern Iraqi province of Dohuk on Wednesday. On Sunday, the Turkish military discovered the bodies of 13 kidnapped Turks, including soldiers and police officers, in northern Iraq. Ankara accuses the PKK of having executed the prisoners. The PKK rejects this and stated that they were killed in bombing by the Turkish military and fighting.
Meral Danis Bestas, HDP MP in the Turkish parliament, condemned the crackdown on her party and wrote on Twitter that seeing every incident as a concept to attack the HDP was an attempt to cover up the facts. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers the legal party to be the extended arm of the PKK. The HDP clearly rejects this again and again.
The Turkish leadership had repeatedly verbally targeted the HDP in recent weeks. In connection with the Turks found dead, Erdogan's communications director Fahrettin Altun wrote on Twitter on Sunday: "The HDP is a political puppet that acts on the orders of the PKK. We saw this fact again today." Years earlier, those killed had been kidnapped by the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK. Government members also used harsh words against the party in connection with the student protests against a rector appointed by Erdogan. The HDP had previously sided with the protesters.
.