HDP: The dark spirit of the ’90s still haunts contemporary politics in Turkey

“It has been 28 years since the ‘March 2 Coup’, the attack on democratic politics when the immunity of DEP deputies was lifted. 28 years ago, Kurdish deputies were handcuffed after they were stripped of their immunity since they offered solutions to the Kurdish question, defending peace against war, life against death, and truth against denial,” HDP’s Central Executive Board (MYK) said in a written statement on Wednesday.

‘ENEMIES OF KURDISH PEOPLE CONTINUE TO EXIST’

The statement said that the dark spirit of the ’90s during which the will of the Kurdish people was seen as “terrorism” still haunts contemporary politics in Turkey.

“Unfortunately, there has been no change in the governments’ view of the Kurds and their attacks on the Kurdish people and their political representatives for the last 28 years. Moreover, attacks targeting democratic politics based on much more hostile and hateful methods are continuing. On the 28th anniversary of the March 2 coup, Diyarbakir Deputy Semra Güzel was stripped of parliamentary immunity based on the same discourse and rhetoric. The political infamy witnessed in this country during the 90s has risen to the surface again. The Çiller government has been replaced by the AKP. The opposition, which rushed into lifting the immunity of DEP deputies in 1994 and our co-chairs and deputies on November 4, 2016, have also pushed for lifting the immunity of Semra Güzel today.

What happened in the last 6 years has manifested the failure of the coup mechanics directed at democratic politics. Neither the appointed trustee mayors and the November 4 coups, nor the imprisonment of Leyla Güven and Musa Farisoğulları, or the lifting of Semra Güzel’s immunity will save the putschists. The closure case against the HDP and the Kobanî Conspiracy Trial will not help the putschists. As they organized coups, Kurdish politics has grown, and democratic politics has become the main actor that would determine the political sphere in Turkey.

‘CONTEMPORARY PUTSCHISTS WILL FAIL AS WELL!’

Ahmet Türk, a veteran of Kurdish politics, addressed the Assembly in 1994 as follows: “I was arrested on September 12 when the army staged a coup, but I came back to the Parliament with the votes of the people in the 1987 elections. If I survive, I believe I will come again by the will of the people. I want you to understand it. We have always been in favour of social peace and solving problems through peace and political dialogue.” History has justified Ahmet Türk and Kurdish politics. Those who were removed from the parliament by a coup have returned to the parliament each time by the will of the people. Of course, contemporary putschists will fail as well, just like the actors of the ’94 coup.”

We condemn all civil and military coups, including the March 2 coup in 1994 and the coup that took place in the Parliament last night. In the past, Leyla Zana, Ahmet Türk, Orhan Doğan, Hatip Dicle, Sırrı Sakık and Mahmut Alinak did not renounce their cause, and today our comrades in prisons bear the same honour and dignity. We will continue to embrace this resistance and honourable stance to the end. We will win, the putschists will lose.”