Today, the Turkish electorate will go to the polls for both Presidential and Parliamentary elections. The candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas, will contest the election from his prison cell, after a politically motivated arrest has left him being the only presidential hopeful to face the election from behind bars.
Thousands of pro-democracy and Kurdish activists are currently jailed by the Turkish state, with many having been subjected to torture and mistreatment by the authorities. President Recep Tayip Erdogan, the conservative and autocratic leader of the Turkish State, has not held back in motivating his supporters to ‘do what they can’ to stop the HDP from reaching the 10% minimum of votes that they require to take their seats in the Turkish parliament. Many have taken this literally, with politically motivated murders against HDP supporters and authorities deliberately moving polling stations in Kurdish majority areas so that people have to travel further to cast their votes.
This country at the doorstep of Europe, which claims to be a democracy, has long descended into a situation where democratic rights come second to Turkish nationalism. The Kurdish nation, which stands as a beacon of hope against the intolerance of the Turkish State and the horrific terror of ISIS, are an oppressed people who deserve our support and solidarity now more than ever before.
The hypocrisy of Western governments, especially the British State is flagrant in this regard. In her recent press conference following Erdogan’s visit to Downing Street, Theresa May pledged full support to the Turkish regime in their ‘fight against Kurdish terrorism’, making no mention of the regime’s human rights abuses, and London Mayor Saddiq Khan also urged the government to ‘crack down on PKK supporters’ in the UK. British weapons are sold to the Turkish State to commit its atrocities against Kurds in both North Kurdistan and in Syria.
EU governments have of course stayed silent on human rights abuses in Turkey after signing a deal allowing the deportation of Syrian refugees from EU member states in return for Visa rights for its citizens. As well as turning a blind eye to the rise in authoritarian tendencies within its own borders, EU governments (including the UK) seem to prefer to sweep the issues of human rights, democracy and humane treatment of refugees under the carpet.
Plaid Ifanc calls on the Welsh government to express our nation’s solidarity with the struggle for democracy in the Turkish state, condemning the imprisonment of HDP candidates and activists. We also call on the British government and the EU to take concrete steps to put pressure on whichever government is elected tomorrow to put a stop to this rising tendency of authoritarianism in Turkey, and to release Selahattin Demirtas and all political prisoners at once.
We also reiterate our call to release the leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, and for the European Union to remove them from their terror list, being one of the main forces fighting ISIS in Rojava/West Kurdistan (Syria).
We believe that supporting democracy in all parts of the world is important if we wish democracy to flourish here in Wales. We stand in solidarity with all those who thirst for justice in Turkey and with our Kurdish brothers and sisters who we have so much to learn from.
