Turkish authorities have issued arrest warrants for 82 people, including a mayor, over pro-Kurdish protests sparked by Isis seizure of Kobane six years ago. The European Left (EL) forcefully condemns all the anti-democratic intimidations and arrests of the protesters and expresses the solidarity with HDP and other progressive activists in Turkey.
As Turkish troops prepare to invade the Kurdish autonomous areas in northeast Syria, Left MEP Özlem Demirel (DIE LINKE, Germany) appealed for urgent efforts to put a stop to the threat.
“The European Union and the international community must condemn in the strongest terms this aggressive and...
In the night of June 24, the sentence which my mother makes after every election we lose, ‘’we are in the minority again’’, echoed in my ears. My father, who was a fanatic supporter of Republican People Party (CHP), which is the main opposition party of Turkey currently, could not be able to recover...
Last night the purge of President Erdogan against our party has reached another peak: our Co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yüksekdag, along with 11 further Members of Parliament of our party have been detained across Turkey last night. More arrests are to be expected. The goal of these measures is to shut down the third largest party in parliament.
The two co-leaders of the People's Democracy Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ were detained at their respective homes. 11 other MPs from HDP were also taken into custody.
After the failed military coup attempt on 15 July, with the political decision of President Erdoğan, Justice and Development Party (AKP) government immediately declared “state of emergency” for three months in order to fight with the coup plotters.
The elections held on November 1, 2015 resulted in a huge success for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its “former” leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The AKP increased its votes almost all over the country and gained parliamentary majority which it had lost at the June 7 elections.
Turkey’s crucial parliamentary election concluded with an amazing outcome: Since the implementation of the very anti-democratic election threshold of 10%, The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a leftist and pro-Kurdish party, managed to pass it for the first time.
With its progressive and realistic election programme and wide range of candidates, HDP represents a preferable political party for the workers, farmers, women, youth, LGTBI, different ethnic and/or religious groups. An election success of HDP will raise hopes of people for a change in current situation of the country also by bringing closer the Gezi resistance and the Kobanê resistance.
Once again, this year, in Istanbul, the government banned May Day demonstrations and the police attacked fiercely protestors with pepper gas and water cannons. 39,000 members of the police prevented workers and people from celebrating May Day at the central square of Istanbul, Taksim Square.
First information from 12 March on the funeral of the 14-year-old Berkin Elvan in Istanbul and the following demonstration and protests and police violence.
A historical uprising has resulted in new practices, potentially very fruitful for closer investigation for progressives in both Europe and the Middle East.
Plunging into the maze of tents in Taksim Square and the Gezi Gardens, members of the ELP delegation (2 members of its Political Committee and two leading members of Syriza) we sought to pinpoint the many organisations and demands.
Since end of May police is cracking down protesters in Turkey, 5 people are dead, 5000 people are injured. What began as protest against the construction of a shopping mall at Gezi Park in Istanbul turned to a broad protest movement in whole Turkey against the authoritarian politics of the turkish government.