Push to ban pro-Kurdish HDP erodes Turkey’s political pluralism further

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Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu (C), a human rights advocate and lawmaker from the People's Democratic Party (HDP) and his colleagues pose after the parliament stripped his parliamentary seat, in Ankara, on March 17, 2021. (AFP)
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Updated 27 March 2021
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Push to ban pro-Kurdish HDP erodes Turkey’s political pluralism further

  • The price for Erdogan’s attempts to silence Turkey’s Kurdish population will have to be paid for years to come
  • Timing of HDP charges suggests Turkey is becoming more repressive against the Kurds and even more nationalistic

MISSOURI, USA: Every March, Kurds, Persians, Azeris, Tajiks, and others celebrate Newroz, the spring equinox festival of the new year. In the Kurdish version of Newroz, legends surrounding the festival focus on a mythical blacksmith of antiquity named Kawa, who saved normal people from a terrible tyrant. The Kurdish version of Newroz therefore comes replete with connotations of freedom from tyranny, oppression, and injustice.

If ongoing developments in Turkey serve as any indicator, it will take more than a couple of Newroz festivities to undo the Erdogan government’s myriad efforts to silence the country’s Kurdish population. Erdogan has, in recent years, turned the Turkish judiciary into his praetorian guard. Public prosecutors and sycophantic judges are now deployed to silence any and all dissent in Turkey.

The latest incident involves the country’s Court of Appeal, which upheld a two-and-a-half year prison sentence against Parliamentarian Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu. Gergerlioglu, of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HDP), was convicted of “making terrorist propaganda” for retweeting a T24 news story in 2016 about the Kurdish conflict and the collapse of the peace process.

With his conviction upheld, the Turkish Grand National Assembly — controlled by Erdogan’s party and its far-right ally, the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) — promptly stripped Gergerlioglu of his parliamentary immunity. Gergerlioglu was not even a member of parliament in 2016; he was elected in 2018, and the story he retweeted was never censored by the state or relied upon to punish the T24 news agency.

The story quoted a Kurdistan Workers’ Party leader, who called for a resumption of peace talks with Ankara and Turkey’s then-interior minister, who rejected such calls. To most observers, it would seem completely bizarre to accuse, much less convict, someone of “making terrorist propaganda” for retweeting a story.

The journalist who wrote the piece was not charged with anything, nor was the media company that ran it.

Today’s Turkey functions under different rules, however. Gergerlioglu’s real crime was his frequent criticisms of the Erdogan government and its human rights record. A former pulmonologist fired from his job as part of a broad emergency decree crackdown following the 2016 attempted coup in Turkey, Gergerlioglu also worked as the head of an Islamic human rights association.




Women chant slogans and hold pictures of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP) co-leader Figen Yuksekdag, who is detained pending a trial on terror charges, on March 5, 2017, at Bakirkoy, in Istanbul. (AFP/File Photo)

As part of his work championing human rights, Gergerlioglu drew attention to the many abuses in Erdogan’s Turkey. His reports and statements regarding the police’s frequent strip-searches of female detainees seems to have particularly irked Erdogan and his government.

Unsurprisingly, foreign observers reacted negatively to the persecution of Gergerlioglu. Among others, the EU special rapporteur for Turkey stated that “stripping him of his parliamentary immunity was illegal, immoral and a cowardly act.”

Amnesty International issued a statement saying that “the lifting of the immunity of the opposition deputy Gergerlioglu because of his unjust conviction is a moment of shame.”

THENUMBER

97.1% of Turks do not believe the judiciary is independent

Also last week, the government arrested Ozturk Turkdogan, head of the Ankara-based Human Rights Association. Gergerlioglu and Turkdogan are only two of hundreds of peaceful opposition members in Turkey who now face Erdogan’s praetorian legal system.

Most, though not all, of those being imprisoned on trumped-up charges come from the HDP, including most of the HDP’s leaders such as Selahattin Demirtas, who has been imprisoned since 2016. Most recently, Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and MHP government began signaling its intention to completely close down and ban the opposition HDP party.

The HDP, after the last couple of elections, has become Turkey’s third-largest party, receiving close to 12 percent of the national vote and holding 55 seats in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The US State Department spokesman called moves to close the HDP “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.”




Protesters throws stones towards a water cannon during a demonstration in Diyarbakir on December 22, 2015 to denounce security operations against Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey. (AFP/File Photo)

Similarly, Nacho Sanchez Amor, the EU’s special rapporteur for Turkey, reacted to the possibility of the HDP’s closure negatively: “Unapologetically (moving) towards the end of pluralism. What reaction does Turkey expect now from the EU? A positive agenda?”

Erdogan’s government reacted to the criticism by rejecting “foreign interference” in Turkey’s domestic political concerns. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said: “Everyone must wait for the ruling the Constitutional Court will make in this process. Commenting on an ongoing judicial process amounts to intervention in the judiciary.”

The statement added: “We call upon those who act inconsistently and attempt to interfere with our internal affairs to respect the legal processes conducted by the independent judiciary.”

These days, of course, almost no one thinks Turkey’s judiciary is actually independent. This includes Turks. A 2016 public opinion poll conducted by the Eurasia Public Opinion Poll Center, conducted before the worst of the Erdogan government’s moves to take over the judiciary, showed that “a total of 97.1 percent of Turks do not believe the judiciary in Turkey is independent and have no trust in the court system.”




Supporters of pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) cheer around fire during a gathering to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year, in Diyarbakir on March 21, 2021. (AFP)

The irony comes with the fact that in Turkey’s previous more secular incarnation before 2002, the courts closed the Islamist political parties that Erdogan belonged to and even imprisoned him in 1998 for a few months when he was the mayor of Istanbul for reading a poem at a rally that was deemed too Islamist.

Back in those days, both Islamists and Kurds suffered the state’s repression. A slew of both Islamist and pro-Kurdish political parties faced multiple closures since the 1970s until Erdogan’s new AK Party arrived on the political scene, promising to put an end to such repression. After some 20 years in power, that promise now seems long forgotten.

The system has instead become even more repressive while only the names of those running it have changed. Turkey’s rankings for civil and political liberties have fallen precipitously in the last several years. Freedom House gives Turkey 16 out of 40 points for “political rights” and 16 out of 60 for “civil rights.”

According to Freedom House, “after initially passing some liberalizing reforms, the AKP government showed growing contempt for political rights and civil liberties, and its authoritarian nature was fully consolidated following a 2016 coup attempt that triggered a dramatic crackdown on perceived opponents of the leadership. Constitutional changes adopted in 2017 concentrated power in the hands of the president.”

As a system, democracy is meant to promote social stability by giving people peaceful avenues to seek their political preferences. With mass incarcerations of political dissidents and looming closures of major opposition political parties, today’s Turkey seems to be eschewing such an arrangement. The current president and his political allies can no longer imagine losing power, and the price for this unwillingness to give the opposition a fair chance at taking over will have to be paid for years to come by Turkey.

* David Romano is Thomas G. Strong Professor of Middle East Politics at Missouri State University

 


Sudan refugees face deepening hunger as funds dry up: UN

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Sudan refugees face deepening hunger as funds dry up: UN

KHARTOUM: Millions of people displaced by the war in Sudan are at risk of falling deeper into crisis as funding for food aid dwindles, the UN’s World Food Programme warned Monday.
Since April 2023, war between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has created the world’s largest displacement crisis, with more than 10 million people displaced inside the country.
Another four million have fled across borders, mainly to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan.
“This is a full-blown regional crisis that’s playing out in countries that already have extreme levels of food insecurity and high levels of conflict,” said Shaun Hughes, WFP’s emergency coordinator for the Sudan regional crisis.
The United Nations says its humanitarian response plan for Sudan — also the world’s largest hunger crisis — is only 14.4 percent funded.
A UN conference in Spain this week aims to rally international donors, following deep funding shortfalls that have affected relief operations globally.
The WFP warned support to Sudanese refugees in Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya and the Central African Republic “may grind to a halt in the coming months as resources run dry.”
In Egypt, which hosts around 1.5 million people who fled Sudan, food aid for 85,000 refugees — 36 percent of those previously supported — had already been cut.
Without new funding, the WFP warned, all assistance to the most vulnerable refugees would be suspended by August.
In Chad, where more than 850,000 people have fled but find little help in overwhelmed camps, the WFP said food rations would be reduced even further.
Around 1,000 refugees continue to arrive in Chad each day from Sudan’s western Darfur region, where famine has already been declared and displacement camps regularly come under attack.
“Refugees from Sudan are fleeing for their lives and yet are being met with more hunger, despair, and limited resources on the other side of the border,” said Hughes.
“Food assistance is a lifeline for vulnerable refugee families with nowhere else to turn.”
Inside Sudan, more than eight million people are estimated to be on the brink of famine, with nearly 25 million suffering dire food insecurity.

Firefighters in Turkiye battle to contain wildfires for second day

Updated 30 June 2025
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Firefighters in Turkiye battle to contain wildfires for second day

  • Helicopters, fire extinguishing aircrafts and other vehicles, and more than a thousand people were trying to extinguish the fires

ISTANBUL: Firefighters in Turkiye are battling wildfires for a second day raging in the western province of Izmir fanned by strong winds, the forestry minister and local media said on Monday
Wildfires in Kuyucak and Doganbey areas of Izmir were fanned overnight by winds reaching 40-50 kph (25-30 mph) and four villages and two neighborhoods had been evacuated, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said.
Helicopters, fire extinguishing aircrafts and other vehicles, and more than a thousand people were trying to extinguish the fires, Yumakli told reporters in Izmir.
Media footage showed teams using tractors with water trailers and helicopters carrying water, as smoke billowed over hills marked with charred trees.
Turkiye’s coastal regions have in recent years been ravaged by wildfires, as summers have become hotter and drier, which scientists relate to climate change.


Heatwave leaves Moroccan cities sweltering in record-breaking temperatures

Updated 29 June 2025
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Heatwave leaves Moroccan cities sweltering in record-breaking temperatures

  • In the coastal city of Casablanca, the mercury reached 39.5C (103 Fahrenheit), breaching the previous record of 38.6C set in June 2011

RABAT: Monthly temperature records have been broken across Morocco, sometimes topping seasonal norms by as much as 20 degrees Celsius, the national meteorological office said Sunday, as the North African kingdom was gripped by a heatwave.
“Our country has experienced, between Friday 27 and Saturday 28 of June, a ‘chegui’ type heatwave characterised by its intensity and geographical reach,” the meteorological office (DGM) said in a report shared with AFP.
The heatwave, which has also struck across the Strait of Gibraltar in southern Europe, has affected numerous regions in Morocco.
According to the DGM, the most significant temperature anomalies have been on the Atlantic plains and interior plateaus.
In the coastal city of Casablanca, the mercury reached 39.5C (103 Fahrenheit), breaching the previous record of 38.6C set in June 2011.
In Larache, 250 kilometers (150 miles) up the coast, a peak temperature of 43.8C was recorded, 0.9C above the previous June high, set in 2017.
And in central Morocco’s Ben Guerir, the thermometers hit 46.4C, besting the two-year-old record by 1.1C.
In total, more than 17 regions sweltered under temperatures above 40C, the DGM said, with Atlantic areas bearing the brunt.
“Coastal cities like Essaouira recorded temperatures 10C or 20C above their usual averages” for June, the DGM said.
Inland cities such as Marrakech, Fez, Meknes and Beni Mellal experienced heat 8C to 15C above the norm, with Tangier in the far north at the bottom end of that scale.
The forecast for the days ahead indicates continuing heat in the interior of Morocco due to a so-called Saharan thermal depression, an intense dome of heat over the desert.

 


Netanyahu sees ‘opportunities’ to free Gaza hostages

Updated 30 June 2025
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Netanyahu sees ‘opportunities’ to free Gaza hostages

  • Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his country’s “victory” over Iran in their 12-day war had created “opportunities,” including for freeing hostages held in Gaza.

“Many opportunities have opened up now following this victory. First of all, to rescue the hostages,” Netanyahu said in an address to officers of the security services.

“Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both goals,” he added, referring to his country’s campaign to crush the Palestinian militant group.

In a statement late Sunday, the main group representing hostages’ families welcomed “the fact that after 20 months, the return of the hostages has finally been designated as the top priority by the prime minister.”

“This is a very important statement that must translate into a single comprehensive deal to bring back all 50 hostages and end the fighting in Gaza,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Of these, 49 are still believed to be held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Hamas also holds the body of an Israeli soldier killed there in 2014.

The forum called for the hostages’ “release, not rescue.”

“The only way to free them all is through a comprehensive deal and an end to the fighting, without rescue operations that endanger both the hostages and (Israeli) soldiers.”


Partial collapse of Sudan gold mine kills 11

Updated 29 June 2025
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Partial collapse of Sudan gold mine kills 11

  • Africa’s third-largest country is one of the continent’s top gold producers, but artisanal and small-scale gold mining accounts for the majority of gold extracted

KHARTOUM: A partial collapse of a traditional gold mine has killed 11 miners and wounded seven others in war-torn Sudan’s northeast, the state mining company said on Sunday.
Since war erupted between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023, Sudan’s gold industry has largely funded both sides’ war efforts.
In a statement, the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company, or SMRC, said that the collapse occurred in an “artisanal shaft in the Kirsh Al-Fil mine” in the remote desert area of Howeid, located between the army-controlled cities of Atbara and Haiya in Sudan’s northeastern Red Sea state.
It did not mention when the collapse took place.
The war, now in its third year, has shattered Sudan’s already-fragile economy, yet the army-backed government announced record gold production of 64 tonnes in 2024.
Africa’s third-largest country is one of the continent’s top gold producers, but artisanal and small-scale gold mining accounts for the majority of gold extracted.
In contrast to larger industrial facilities, these mines lack safety measures and use hazardous chemicals that often cause widespread diseases in nearby areas.
SMRC said it had previously suspended work in the mine and “warned against its continuing activity due to its posing a great risk to life.”
Before the war, which has pushed 25 million people into dire food insecurity, artisanal mining employed more than 2 million people, according to the industry.
Today, according to mining industry sources and experts, much of the gold produced by both sides is smuggled to Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt, before reaching the industrialists.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Sudan, where over 10 million people are currently displaced in the world’s largest displacement crisis.
A further 4 million have fled across borders.