HDP co-deputy head for local governments Salim Kaplan said that “since 2016, 20,000 of our members have been taken into custody and more than 10,000 of our members and executives have been sent to jail.”
HDP released a report on violations of rights in 2020 targeting the party.
Political genocide operations
The report said that 3,695 members / administrators and deputies have been arrested since 2015, and 1,750 HDP members and administrators were taken into custody in 2020 alone. 172 of them were sent to prison. The report shared information about former MPs still held hostage in prison and their sentences. The report listed the prison sentences top HDP members received: Selahattin Demirtaş (4 years 8 months), Figen Yüksekdağ (1 year 6 months), Idris Baluken (16 years 8 months), Çağlar Demirel (7 years 6 months), Abdullah Zeydan (8 years 1 month 15 days), Gülser Yıldırım (7 years and 6 months), Musa Farisoğulları (9 years).
17 HDP members were sent to prison within the scope of the “6-8 October Kobanê Incidents”. Democratic Society Congress (DTK) co-chair Leyla Güven on Monday was sentenced to 22 years and 3 months in prison.
48 municipalities have been seized by the government
The systematic dismissals of local democratically and freely elected HDP mayors started on 19 August 2019.
37 HDP co-mayors were arrested, and trustees were appointed to 48 municipalities. Currently, 17 HDP co-mayors are still in prison. The names of the jailed mayors are as follows; Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı (Amed), Melike Göksu (Erzurum), Cihan Karaman (Hakkari), Yıldız Çetin (Van), Azim Yacan (Van), Yakup Almaç (Wan), Yılmaz Şahan (Wan), Gülistan Öncü (Mardin), Mülkiye Esmez (Mardin), Nilüfer Elik Yılmaz (Mardin), Adnan Topçu (Muş), Yaşar Akkuş (Iğdır), Hasan Safa (Iğdır), Mehmet Demir (Batman), Ayhan Bilgen (Kars), Şevin Alaca (Kars).
HDP co-deputy head for local governments Salim Kaplan said that “since 2016, 20,000 of our members have been taken into custody and more than 10,000 of our members and executives have been sent to jail.”
Salim Kaplan condemned the ruling AKP-MHP for introducing fascist practices. Kaplan maintained that the AKP-MHP government has been oppressing Turkish society for 18 years adding that ‘’since 2016, 20 thousand of our members have been detained and more than 10 thousand of our members and executives have been arrested’’.
