ANKARA - From HEP to HDP, journalist and writer Hüseyin Aykol, evaluating the policy of "party closure" against the Kurdish political movement, said: "Every closure draws a reaction from the public and the parties grow into politics."

 

While the closure case of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) at the Constitutional Court (AYM) continues, on January 5, the Constitutional Court decided to block the party's treasury aid accounts. While the decision was expressed as a part of "political genocide operations", journalist and writer Hüseyin Aykol evaluated the political pressures and closures of parties from the People's Labor Party (HEP) to the HDP and the parties that brought the Kurdish demands to the Parliament.

 

KURDS WAS ON THE POLITICAL STAGE WITH HEP

 

Reminding that the military dictatorship of September 12 closed all political parties, Aykol said: "Kurdish politicians had to engage in politics within existing political parties in the 1980s in order to produce policies in favor of the Kurdish people. In the 90s, the Kurdish people's national and social liberation struggle expanded; therefore, there was a need for parties that would talk about their own party and its problem in the Parliament and take steps to solve it. In 1990, some Kurdish MPs who were involved in politics in the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) attended a conference on the Kurdish Question in Paris. When they returned to Turkey, there was a big anti-campaign saying, "Kurdistan is mentioned there, how can you join there?", SHP got scared and kicked our MPs from the party, so some MPs who remained in the party came together with the expelled MPs and formed the HEP. HEP was founded on June 7, 1990. At that time, the Kurds entered the political scene of their own will. HEP's speeches and attitudes disturbed the Turkish state and a lawsuit was filed against the party. There was a lawsuit that lasted until July 14, 1993 and the party was closed by the Constitutional Court."

 

STATE PRESSURE ON HEP, ÖDP, DEP AND HADEP

 

Pointing out that a new party called the Freedom and Democracy Party (ÖDP) was founded on October 19, 1992, during the closure of the Kurdish people's HEP, Aykol said: "The ÖDP was also closed down in 1993 before it could enter the elections. The Democracy Party (DEP) was founded on May 7, 1993 in order not to leave the Kurdish people without a party. The MPs who passed from HEP to ÖDP and then to DEP were put on trial for a long time. Many of them spent years in prison. In '94, the AYM also closed the DEP. In order for the Kurdish people not to remain without a party during the AYM processes, a new party is established and it starts its activities. One of those parties is the People's Democracy Party (HADEP). It displaced how predictable Kurds are! While DEP was closed on June 16, 1994, HADEP was established on May 11, 1994.”

 

Stating that HADEP has a historical significance as it entered the general elections under his own name and collected one and a half million votes, Aykol said: "HADEP, which was stuck in the dam, entered the local elections with this claim. HADEP won 37 mayors. One of them was Diyarbakır. There is a party that has strengthened in this way, entered the elections in its own name, and started to win the mayorship. A lawsuit was filed against him immediately; however, this closure case took a long time. HADEP was on the agenda until 2003. The AYM closed it in 2003. While this closure process continued, the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) was established. DEHAP was founded in 1997 before the closure of HADEP. Then the closure case continued. Although all the processes of this party's closure case have been completed, they have forgotten to close it. This party also stops now.”

 

10 PERCENT ELECTION THRESHOLD DESTROYED: DTP PERIOD

 

Underlining that the Democratic Society Party (DTP), which was founded in 2005, introduced the first co-chairpersonship system, Aykol said: "The DTP organized the people in the provinces of Kurdistan and entered the elections with their own MPs and formed a group in the Parliament. The regime said that they brought this 10% threshold for the Kurds. The 10% threshold has been broken. We should lower this threshold, the parties promised to lower the electoral threshold in every election thing, but of course, it has lasted until today. Although the Prosecutor General's Office and the Constitutional Court canceled it, it continued. As a result of this insistence, there is a co-chairpersonship system.”

 

'KURDISH QUESTION CANNOT BE SPOKEN IN THE PARLIAMENT'

 

Stating that the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), which was established on May 2, 2008, after it became clear that the DTP would be closed in 2009, brought in 94 mayors and plenty of MPs to be in the General Assembly, Aykol said: "The DTP MPs have moved to BDP and changed their name. The parties I have counted so far are primarily concerned with the Kurdish Question. The Kurdish question is not even expected to speak in Parliament or even a solution. The solution started to be spoken about during the 'solution process' period."

 

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF HDP

 

Pointing to the dream of a party where the peoples of Turkey can fight together, Aykol said the following regarding the establishment of the HDP: “The HDP was first established as a congress. In this congress, more than 40 organizations and structures came together and it was decided to remove a party from the congress. The HDP was founded on October 15, 2012, entered the Parliament under its own name and had 80 MPs in its first election. In the following elections, this number decreased to 67 due to pressures, but in every general election it entered, it entered the Parliament with a serious number of MPs without any group problems. It increased the number of mayors in the next two local elections.”

 

'TURKISH STATE HAS ACCEPTED THE KURDISH QUESTION'

 

Saying that the state has repeatedly closed down parties related to the Kurdish Question with the help of the Constitutional Court, Aykol said: "The fact that each established party continues on its way by expanding further. The right-wing parties founded by the Kurds were also closed. We can use the word Kurdistan in an environment where even the word 'Kurd' was used as a means of closing a party. We couldn't use the word 'Kurdistan, Kurd' in our news in the 1990s, but now we can. People can use Kurdish names for their children and have them printed on their identity cards. At this point, the state has accepted the Kurdish Question, but it is trying to not give its rights as much as possible, but to give less."

 

'THEY WILL DAMAGE THE LEGITIMACY OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT'

 

Reminding the hundreds of pages of indictment prepared by the Supreme Court of Appeals Prosecutor's Office in 2 weeks in 2021, Aykol said: "The Constitutional Court accepted the indictment as a result of the prints and served it to the HDP. HDP gave its preliminary defense on November 5, 2021 so, the Attorney General's Office gave its opinion on the merits. The Constitutional Court blocked HDP's treasury aid with an interim decision taken on January 5. Treasury aid is money earned over the last election results. It cannot be reduced, it cannot be denied. In the decision of the AYM Bloke, the men Erdoğan sent with his tricks played a role. The blocking decision against HDP is also illegal. Each shutdown draws a reaction from the public, and the parties grow and enter politics. There is a situation where the Kurdish people and ethnic groups, peoples and religious groups insist on fighting together. Despite everything, if a decision of closure is made by the Constitutional Court, the international legitimacy of the Constitutional Court will be damaged."