This was organised following of RIC-Edinburgh's participation on the November 10th, 2016 Protest
outside the Scottish Parliament against the jailing of the Parliamentary
opposition in Turkey and the suppression of the Kurds
A Kurdish speaker (name
withheld for security reasons) gave the following introduction:-
Overview of the
current situation in Turkey and Kurdistan
Turkey’s war on Kurds.
End of democracy and human rights.
Rise of fascism and racism.
Erdogan’s Presidential referendum and steps towards one-man rule
_______
General elections June 2015
HDP Peoples Democratic Party (HDP)
gained 80 seats.
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples%27_Democratic_Party_(Turkey)
July 2015 Ankara and Suruc massacre Large scale oppression and
human rights violations
November elections 2015
PDP gains 59 seats
Still 3rd largest
party
Early 2016 - Turkish State's war on the Kurdish population begins
Examples of state killing:-
Taybet
- Mother
Haci
Lokman Birlik - filmmaker activist
Cemile
- 11 year old girl
Mother
cries wanting to go to her son, burning alive in a basement floor. Cizre 08.02.2016
Examples of state destruction of towns
Lice,
Cizre, Nusaybabin, Qandil, Sheik Mqsood, Gever
Action of Turkish fascists at HDP offices
Turkish state
indoctrination of children
Search of Kurdish girl at
gunpoint
BBC reported UN’s findings on human rights violations in
curfew hit areas of south-east
turkey (north Kurdistan Up
to 500,000 people, mostly Kurds,
were displaced between July 2015 and December 2016, a UN report said.
In the period that followed, UN investigators documented thousands of killings, disappearances and cases of torture
during government operations that
affected more than 30 towns and neighbourhoods.
Turkey to be added to European list of undemocratic countries.
In
a further blow to Turkey’s spotty global image, the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe (PACE) called March 8 for
Turkey to come
under its formal scrutiny, a status reserved for members that are deemed to be backsliding on
democracy. Nine countries, including Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Russia are currently on that hook.
Examples of resistance
Statement
from Asli Erdogan -Turkish author and activist
Felenknas
Uca MP - protecting an activist
15th July 2016 - So called "Coup" attempt fails. State of
emergency established.
July, 2016 - Erdogan
introduces purge.
Education
- 42,799
Police
- 9298
Armed
Forces - 6361
Justice
- 3000
Sports
- 2345
Banking
& Finance - 1637
Others
ministries - 1442
Media
377
PM
office - 257
Governors
- 246
Intelligence
- 100
Others
- 308
Jan. 2017 - Erdogan attempts to suppress elements of remaining
parliamentary democracy and introduce a Presidential system and end independent
judiciary
April, 2017 - Referendum to be held
The NO Campaign is making the following
points:-
The office of the prime minister disappears, making way for a strong, executive president supported by vice-presidents.
The president would have the power to appoint cabinet ministers without requiring a confidence vote from
parliament, propose budgets and appoint more than half the members
of the nation’s highest judicial body.
The president would also have the power to dissolve the national assembly and impose states of emergency.
Parliament would be elected every five years, instead of every four.
It
also introduces technical requirements that would make it harder for the assembly to remove the president from
office or bring down his government.
Activities of solidarity campaigners
________
Discussion
In the
following discussion, the following questions were asked:-
1. Will there be a NO vote?
There is probably a No majority, but the Turkish
government is doing everything possible to prevent this occurring.
2. Who is Erdogan's base
Erdogan was originally able to appeal on both
the basis of Turkish nationalism and Islam and the earlier success of his
economic reforms. However, his increasingly authoritarianism, and the worsening
economic situation has led to a shrinkage in his base of support.
3. Is the HDP a party for Kurdish independence?
The HDP includes people who support Kurdish independence,
but following Abdullah Ocalan's (leader of the Kurdish Workers Party), now
jailed since 1999) strategy , the party is now for building grassroots
democracy, not the exiting state, and has support form a much wider spread of
people - including socialists, feminists and minorities.
4. What is the situation in Syria and Iraq,
The YPG 's (Peoples Protection Units) are
similar to the PKK, whilst the Democratic Union Party has similar politics to
the HDP.
However,
Barzani's KDP government in northern Iraq is allied with Erdogan.
5. What sort of help can RIC provide?
Joining the protests against Erdogan and
attending solidarity meetings. There is also an attempt being made to
resuscitate the cross-party group in Holyrood.
6. Will Trump make things worse?
Very likely. There has been some cooperation
between the US and YPG in the defence of Rojava when under attack by ISIL.
However, Kurds always knew that this was likely to be short lived, and
that after ISIL has been defeated, the US will abandon the YPG. There is a
Kurdish saying - "We have no friends but the mountains."
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