Arrest warrants against pro-Kurdish politicians: Erdoğan's blow against HDP

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Protests against wave of arrests: The opposition suspects a diversionary maneuver

Photo: SEDAT SUNA / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock

Burning barricades, toppled Ataturk statues, city buses that are on fire, violence between police officers and demonstrators: the images of the Kobane protests in several Turkish cities document dramatic scenes.

37 people were killed in the bloody clashes and hundreds were injured.

However, the scenes were already six years ago, now they are topical again.

In October 2014 the terrorist militia "Islamic State" (IS) faced the capture of the Syrian-Kurdish city of Kobane.

The pro-Kurdish HDP had called for expressions of solidarity in Turkey at that time.

They accused the Turkish government of abandoning Kobane and supporting ISIS.

For days, violent protests raged, especially in the predominantly Kurdish cities in southeastern Turkey, but also in Istanbul.

Diyarbakir 2014: The protests were triggered by the capture of the Kurdish Syrian city of Kobane by the IS

Photo: ILYAS AKENGIN / AFP

In connection with these protests, the Turkish authorities issued 82 arrest warrants last Friday.

Raids were carried out in seven provinces on the orders of the Ankara Prosecutor General.

At least 19 of those wanted have already been arrested.

In the Turkish capital, they are said to be interrogated by the anti-terrorist unit of the public prosecutor's office.

However, the authority did not disclose what offenses they are accusing the people of.

Mediated for the state for years, now arrested

It seems clear, however, that the action is directed against pro-Kurdish politicians.

The wanted are functionaries, elected officials and activists of the opposition party HDP.

Probably the most important of these is Ayhan Bilgen, the Lord Mayor of the city of Kar in the northeast of the country.

Party spokeswoman Bermali Demirdögen and popular politician Sırrı Süreyya Önder are among those arrested.

On behalf of the Turkish government, he had mediated the conflict between the state and the imprisoned PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan for years.

Why the investigations are now being resumed six years after the protests has not been officially commented on.

The arrest warrants are a matter of the judiciary, the government said.

However, there can hardly be any talk of an independent judiciary in Turkey.

Numerous public prosecutors were fired after the attempted coup in 2016.

In the summer, the government reorganized the bar associations in their favor and most recently a meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ankara's attorney general Yüksel Kocaman caused criticism.

Kocaman, who is also in charge of the current investigation, had married - and immediately after the wedding he drove to the palace with his bride and picked up Erdoğan's congratulations there - including small gifts.

Now Kocaman is taking action against the pro-Kurdish HDP - even though the Kobane protests had consequences years ago.

Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, who were co-chairs of the HDP in October 2014, have been in custody since 2016 and 2017.

They are accused of instigating the protests.

The opposition now suspects that the new investigation is a pretext to act against the pro-Kurdish HDP.

The government has been increasing the pressure on the opposition party for months.

Of the 65 HDP mayors who were elected in the local elections in 2019, 47 have now been dismissed and replaced by state administrators - the official reason each time is terrorist allegations and alleged links to the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK.

HDP board member Azad Baris suspects that the new reprisals are an attempt to intimidate and divide the opposition.

"This is an excuse and has nothing to do with Kobane," he told SPIEGEL.

The current investigation calls Baris arbitrariness.

"Erdoğan wants to build a totalitarian regime."

Not least in the local elections last year, the HDP contributed to changing the political landscape in the country.

"Erdoğan wants to build a totalitarian regime."

Azad Baris, HDP board member

At that time, the opposition CHP candidates in Istanbul and Ankara were able to prevail against their AKP opponents in the mayoral elections with the support of the HDP.

According to Baris, Erdoğan now wants to retaliate for this.

He is trying to push a wedge between the opposition parties.

Baris explains that this is happening now, of all times, with the current political situation.

Turkey has recently had to back off in the conflicts in Syria and Libya, talks are to take place with Greece in the dispute over natural gas reserves in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Turkish economy is in crisis.

And the polls for the AKP are bad.

"It's a red herring," says Baris.

The respected analyst Murat Yetkin sees it similarly.

In his blog he suspects that Erdoğan wants to stir up a mood against the HDP in order to score points with his nationalist voters.

Yetkin also speculates on whether the rising corona numbers could have played a role in the timing of the investigation.

In Turkey, the number of infections is rising, health workers are already warning of the collapse and the government is fighting for a solution.

Last Friday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca spoke of an "alarming increase" in Covid 19 patients treated in hospitals.

On the same day, the 82 arrest warrants were issued.

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