Warnings over Turkish attempts to ban pro-Kurdish party

Supporters of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party protest in Istanbul on March 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
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Updated 18 March 2021
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Warnings over Turkish attempts to ban pro-Kurdish party

  • Country 'not free' according to Freedom in the World 2021 Index and has 32/100 score

ANKARA: A legal case has been launched to close the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the third largest parliamentary party in Turkey, provoking strong reactions about the downgrading of political freedom in the country.

The Court of Cassation filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court on March 17 asking for the closure of the HDP, alleging it had collaborated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) “and aimed to damage and break the unity of the state with the Turkish people.”

Prosecutor Bekir Sahin, who was assigned to his post by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan despite ranking fourth out of five candidates, also sought a political ban on more than 600 HDP members and financial restrictions on the party by cutting it off from Treasury aid.

The HDP called Sahin’s move a “new coup” against democracy with a governmental attempt to “weaponize the judiciary.”

It denies accusations of links to the PKK, and has reached out to all segments of Turkish society in order to differentiate itself from past pro-Kurdish parties. This broader approach has won votes from liberal segments of society, including minorities and white collar workers.

The launch of a legal case to ban the HDP triggered both domestic and international reactions about the downgrading of political freedoms, the rule of law and pluralism in Turkey.

The country was assessed as being “not free” in the Freedom in the World 2021 Index from Freedom House, with a paltry 32/100 score.

“Unapologetically toward the end of pluralism,” tweeted Nacho Sanchez Amor, who is the European Parliament's new rapporteur on Turkey. "What reaction does Turkey expect now from the European Union? A positive agenda?” 

The US also warned about efforts to dissolve the HDP. President Joe Biden administration’s policy will mainly focus on Turkey’s democracy deficit and shortcomings in the country’s rule of law.

“We are monitoring the initiation of efforts to dissolve the Peoples' Democratic Party, a decision that would unduly subvert the will of Turkish voters, further undermine democracy in Turkey, and deny millions of Turkish citizens their chosen representation,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

Several HDP lawmakers, including former co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, are behind bars while 12 have lost their parliamentary seats.

Dozens of HDP mayors have also been booted out of office since elections in March 2019.

Hours before the lawsuit was filed, HDP lawmaker Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu lost his parliamentary seat for a social media post he had shared two years before being elected.

“HDP’s senior leaders and spokespeople, through their words and deeds, have repeatedly and consistently proved that they are the PKK’s political wing,” tweeted Fahrettin Altun, presidential communication chief.

Altun hinted at the possibility of subjecting the HDP to a punitive measure, rather than closure. Cutting the party off from Treasury grants is one of the options being suggested as an alternative to shutting it down.

It is the first time that a closure case has been lodged against a political party since 2008, when Erdogan’s own party survived such an attempt.

In 2015 he said: “Individuals should be punished for their mistakes, rather than an entire party.”

But his nationalistic coalition partner, Devlet Bahceli, is known for his staunch criticism of the HDP and has been pushing for its closure for a long time.

“As the famous saying goes, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” Necdet Ipekyuz, the HDP deputy for the southeastern province of Batman, told Arab News.

The HDP would be the seventh pro-Kurdish party to be banned from Turkey’s political scene, he said, with a new movement emerging each time from the ashes of predecessors.

“The European Court of Human Rights has always condemned Turkey in the past for closing the precedents of the HDP. They cannot ignore the six million votes that were given to the HDP, which has always been a party to favor liberties. What they have to do is to ask why millions of citizens vote for that party and not another.”

He added that the move to close the HDP, which has 54 parliamentary seats, was a message to all dissident voices in Turkey.

“Therefore all opposition parties, media and civil society should act in unison against such a politically motivated decision that can never be justified with legal grounds. The government lost all its political, social and economic narrative and it turns toward more polarization by taking the HDP, the third largest party in the parliament, as a useful target.”

The fresh crackdown on the HDP coincided with a recently announced human rights action plan by the government in a bid to boost freedom of expression and rule of law.


Hamas says it killed 12 Israeli-backed fighters. Israeli-supported group says they were aid workers

Updated 4 sec ago
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Hamas says it killed 12 Israeli-backed fighters. Israeli-supported group says they were aid workers

CAIRO: A unit of Gaza’s Hamas-run police force said it killed 12 members of an Israeli-backed militia after detaining them early Thursday. Hours earlier, an Israel-supported aid group said Hamas attacked a bus carrying its Palestinian workers, killing at least five of them.
The militia, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, said its fighters had attacked Hamas and killed five militants but made no mention of its own casualties. It also accused Hamas of detaining and killing aid workers. It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those killed.
The Israeli military circulated the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation‘s statement on its social media accounts but declined to provide its own account of what happened.
Aid initiative already marred by controversy and violence
The aid group’s operations in Gaza have already been marred by controversy and violence since they began last month, with scores of people killed in near-daily shootings as crowds headed toward the food distribution sites inside Israeli military zones. Witnesses have blamed the Israeli military, which has acknowledged firing only warning shots near people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner.
Earlier this week, witnesses also said Abu Shabab militiamen had opened fire on people en route to a GHF aid hub, killing and wounding many.
The United Nations and major aid groups have rejected the Israeli and US-backed initiative, accusing them of militarizing humanitarian aid at a time when experts say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel’s blockade and renewed military campaign.
Last week, Israel acknowledged it is supporting armed groups of Palestinians in what it says is a move to counter Hamas. Abu Shabab’s militia, which calls itself the Popular Forces, says it is guarding the food distribution points set up by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in southern Gaza. Aid workers say it has a long history of looting UN trucks.
GHF has denied working with the Abu Shabab group.
‘They were aid workers’
In a statement released early Thursday, the foundation said Hamas had attacked a bus carrying more than two dozen “local Palestinians working side-by-side with the US GHF team to deliver critical aid” near the southern city of Khan Younis.
“We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,” it said. “These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives everyday to help others.”
It did not identify the men or say whether they were armed at the time.
Rev. Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical adviser to US President Donald Trump who was recently appointed head of GHF, called the killings “absolute evil” and lashed out at the UN and Western countries over what he said was their failure to condemn them.
“The principle of impartiality does not mean neutrality. There is good and evil in this world. What we are doing is good and what Hamas did to these Gazans is absolute evil,” he wrote on X.
Israel and the United States say the new system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid from the long-standing UN-run system, which is capable of delivering food, fuel and other humanitarian aid to all parts of Gaza. UN officials deny there has been any systematic diversion of aid by Hamas, but say they have struggled to deliver it because of Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order in Gaza.
UN officials say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs, and that it allows Israel to use aid as a weapon by controlling who has access to it and by essentially forcing people to relocate to the aid sites, most of which are in the southernmost city of Rafah, now a mostly uninhabited military zone. Some fear this could be part of an Israeli plan to coerce Palestinians into leaving Gaza.
Hamas says it killed traitors
Hamas has also rejected the new system and threatened to kill any Palestinians who cooperate with the Israeli military. The killings early Wednesday were carried out by the Hamas-run police’s Sahm unit, which Hamas says it established to combat looting.
The unit released video footage showing several dead men lying in the street, saying they were Abu Shabab fighters who had been detained and killed for collaborating with Israel. It was not possible to verify the images or the claims around them.
Mohammed Abu Amin, a Khan Younis resident, said he was at the scene of the killings and that crowds were celebrating them, shouting “God is greatest” and condemning those killed as traitors to the Palestinian cause and agents of Israel.
Ghassan Duhine, who identifies himself as a major in the Palestinian Authority’s security forces and deputy commander of the Abu Shabab group, posted a statement online saying they clashed with Sahm and killed five. He denied that the images shared by Sahm were of Abu Shabab fighters.
The Palestinian Authority, led by rivals of Hamas and based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has denied any connection to the Abu Shabab group, but many of the militiamen identify themselves as PA officers.
Mounting lawlessness as Israel steps up military campaign
Israel renewed its offensive in March after ending a ceasefire with Hamas and imposed a complete ban on imports of food, fuel, medicine and other aid before easing the blockade in mid-May.
The ongoing war and mounting desperation have plunged Gaza into chaos, with armed gangs looting aid convoys and selling the stolen food. The Hamas-run police force, which maintained a high degree of public security before the war, has largely gone underground as Israel has repeatedly targeted its forces with airstrikes. The military now controls more than half of the territory.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage. They are still holding 53 captives, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s military campaign has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead. It does not say how many of those killed were civilians or combatants.
Israel’s offensive has flattened large areas of Gaza and driven around 90 percent of the population of roughly 2 million Palestinians from their homes. The territory is almost completely reliant on humanitarian aid because nearly all of its food production capabilities have been destroyed.

Palestinian Authority says Internet down in Gaza after attack on fiber optic cable

Updated 20 min 4 sec ago
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Palestinian Authority says Internet down in Gaza after attack on fiber optic cable

  • Maintenance and repair teams unable to safely access the sites where damage occurred to the fiber optic cable
  • ‘Israeli occupation continues to prevent technical teams from repairing the cables that were cut yesterday’

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinian Authority said Internet and fixed-line communication services were down in Gaza on Thursday following an attack on the territory’s last fiber optic cable it blamed on Israel.

“All Internet and fixed-line communication services in the Gaza Strip have been cut following the targeting of the last remaining main fiber optic line in Gaza,” the PA’s telecommunications ministry said in a statement, accusing Israel of attempting to cut Gaza off from the world.

“The southern and central Gaza Strip have now joined Gaza City and the northern part of the Strip in experiencing complete isolation for the second consecutive day,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that its maintenance and repair teams had been unable to safely access the sites where damage occurred to the fiber optic cable.

“The Israeli occupation continues to prevent technical teams from repairing the cables that were cut yesterday,” it said, adding that Israeli authorities had prevented repairs to other telecommunication lines in Gaza “for weeks and months.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the communication lines were “directly targeted by occupation forces.”

It said the Internet outage was hindering its emergency services by impeding communication with first responder teams in the field.

“The emergency operations room is also struggling to coordinate with other organizations to respond to humanitarian cases.”

Maysa Monayer, spokeswoman for the Palestinian communication ministry, said that “mobile calls are still available with very limited capacity” in Gaza for the time being.

Now in its 21st month, the war in Gaza has caused massive damage to infrastructure across the Palestinian territory, including water mains, power lines and roads.


Oman to host sixth round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and US on Sunday

Updated 12 June 2025
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Oman to host sixth round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and US on Sunday

  • Oman’s foreign minister Badr Al-Busaidi makes announcement on the social platform X

DUBAI: There will be a sixth round of negotiations between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program this weekend, Oman’s foreign minister said Thursday.

Badr Al-Busaidi made the announcement on the social platform X.

“I am pleased to confirm the 6th round of Iran US talks will be held in Muscat this Sunday the 15th,” he wrote.

Iran for days had been saying there would be talks, but Oman, which is serving as the mediator, had not confirmed them until now.

There was no immediate comment from the US.

Tensions have been rising over the last day in the region, with the US drawing down the presence of staffers who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East and their loved ones due to the potential for regional unrest.


US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says 5 members killed in Hamas attack

Updated 12 June 2025
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US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says 5 members killed in Hamas attack

  • “We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,” the group said in its statement

WASHINGTON: The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on Wednesday accused militant group Hamas of attacking a bus carrying its staffers to an aid distribution center, saying at least five people were killed and multiple others injured.

The group said in a statement that around 10 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) “a bus carrying more than two dozen members of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation team... were brutally attacked by Hamas.”

“We are still gathering facts, but what we know is devastating: there are at least five fatalities, multiple injuries, and fear that some of our team members may have been taken hostage,” the statement read.

In an email to AFP the group said all the passengers on the bus were Palestinian and all were aid workers. They were en route to GHF’s distribution center in the area west of Khan Younis.

“We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,” the group said in its statement. “These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons and friends, who were risking their lives every day to help others.”

An officially private effort with opaque funding and backed by Israel, GHF began operations on May 26 after Israel completely cut off supplies into Gaza for more than two months, sparking warnings of mass famine.

But GHF’s first week of operations, in which it said it had distributed more than seven million meals’ worth of food, has been marred by criticism.

The Israeli military faces allegations of shooting into crowds of civilians rushing to pick up aid packages near GHF sites.

Israeli authorities and the GHF — which uses contracted US security — denied any such incident took place.

The United Nations and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.


Palestinian boy who lost nine siblings arrives in Italy for treatment

Updated 12 June 2025
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Palestinian boy who lost nine siblings arrives in Italy for treatment

  • According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) website, more than 15,000 children have reportedly been killed and over 34,000 injured in almost two years of war in Gaza

MILAN: A group of 17 Palestinian children, including an 11-year-old boy who lost nine siblings in an Israel strike in Gaza last month, arrived in Italy on Wednesday for hospital treatment, accompanied by more than 50 family members.
Adam Al-Najjar, who has multiple fractures, arrived with his mother at Milan’s Linate airport where he was welcomed by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, before being transferred to the city’s Niguarda Hospital.
The plane that landed at Linate carried five other injured Palestinian minors, while 11 more arrived on flights to other Italian airports.
The May 23 attack left Adam in a serious condition at Nasser Hospital, one of the few operational medical facilities in southern Gaza.
Adam “is stable, has a head wound that is healing but his left arm is bad, the bones are fractured and the nerves damaged,” his 36-year-old mother, Alaa Al-Najjar, a paediatrician, told Italian newspaper la Repubblica.
Adam’s father, Hamdi Al-Najjar, who was also a doctor, died a week after the attack.
“The damage is in my left hand, there is a problem with the nerves, I can’t feel my fingers. There’s still a lot of pain,” Adam told Turkish news agency Anadolu.
A total of 70 Palestinians were set to arrive in Italy on three military aircraft that set off from Israel’s Eilat airport, the Italian foreign ministry said earlier on Wednesday.
The patients will be treated at hospitals in numerous cities including Milan, Rome, Florence and Bologna.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) website, more than 15,000 children have reportedly been killed and over 34,000 injured in almost two years of war in Gaza.
Including the latest operation, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has so far brought 150 injured Palestinians from Gaza to Italy for treatment, the foreign ministry said.
The Italian government has been a staunch supporter of Israel since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas-led militants that killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
In recent months, Rome has criticized the extent of the Israeli response, and expressed concern as the death toll in Gaza has mounted, while declining to apply sanctions.
Italy was not among numerous European Union countries that called last month for a review of EU-Israeli economic and trade relations.