HDP calls for the formation of “democratic bloc” after impeachment of three MPs
The legislative body convened on Thursday, and in an unexpected move its deputy speaker Sureyya Sadi Bilgic revoked the membership of the HDP’s Leyla Guven and Musa Farisogullari, as well as the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s Enis Berberoglu, saying these lawmakers would be impeached based on Article 84 of the Turkish Constitution.
Guven and Farisogullari were sentenced to prison months ago for their alleged links to the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella group of a number of parties, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). However, no action was taken by the parliament to remove the MPs for their sentences until Thursday - to many opposition MPs’ surprise. Berberoglu was sentenced in 2017 for his alleged leaking of information to a newspaper about Turkish intelligence’s activities in Syria.
The three MPs were detained late Thursday for the charges read out against them in parliament.
The HDP’s co-chairs told reporters Friday afternoon that this development requires the unity of the “democratic forces,” in reference to opposition parties like the CHP.
“This subject is not only related to the HDP,” the pro-Kurdish party’s co-chair Mithat Sancar said in a joint press conference with other co-chair, Pervin Buldan.
“Let’s form a democracy bloc against the coup, and call for a mutual struggle” added Sancar.
He expressed his concern that the CHP did not mention the names of their two impeached MPs, when the party condemned yesterday’s move in parliament.
Most of HDP officials have mentioned CHP’s Berberoglu alongside Guven and Farisogullari when condemning the impeachment.
Buldan says the opposition has to “act and fight together” against the AKP.
“We are entering a stage when the democratic forces have to act and fight together more than ever. If we do not act and fight together the AKP’s fascist and putschist mentality will prevail and everyone in Turkey will live in isolation.”
“No one should see this as an act merely against the HDP but against the people of Turkey,” she added.
Turkish opposition parties commonly refrain from officially cooperating with the HDP due to its alleged links to the PKK, an armed group considered as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. Some government officials claim that the HDP is the political wing of the PKK, despite the former denying any organic links with the armed group.
This became clear when the HDP attempted to join an opposition alliance between the CHP and other opposition parties, including the IYI (Good) Party for the March 2019 local elections, but were refused an entry. The HDP, nonetheless, still supported the CHP’s candidates in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir to a victory against the AKP, which lost control of these areas at the ballot box.
Several HDP and CHP lawmakers took to social media Thursday to protest the impeachment decision, sharing the hashtag #DarbeciAKP, which translates from Turkish to “putschist AKP.”
The Turkish government launched a crackdown against dissidents, including the HDP, after the July 2016 failed coup, which was attributed to cleric Fethullah Gulen - a former ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the subsequent years scores of HDP members, officials and supporters have been detained, including then co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag.
The HDP won 65 municipalities in the March 2019 elections but six of them were not allowed to take office and 45 of them have been replaced by pro-government officials, largely for their alleged links to the PKK. The party currently has only 14 mayors in office. Moreover, according to office figures from the party, twenty-one of the removed mayors have been detained.
Rudaw
