Unpleasant surprise for journalist Hüseyin Aykol
Left-wing journalist Hüseyin Aykol was registered as a member of the AKP without his knowledge. The 72-year-old only found out about this when he applied for membership of the DEM party.
Turkish journalist Hüseyin Aykol was registered as a member of the AKP without his knowledge. The 72-year-old only found out about this when he applied for membership of the DEM party. He was astonished when the district association in Ankara-Etimesgut told him: "Membership of another party excludes membership of the DEM".
A look at the "e-Devlet" system, an online system for the provision of electronic government services, finally revealed the unpleasant surprise to Aykol. He had already joined the ruling party of President Tayyip Erdoğan at the beginning of the year. "I immediately canceled my membership," said the journalist, who is now considering legal action.
Unlike in democratic countries, it is not unusual in Turkey for citizens to join parties without doing anything of their own. As a rule, those affected are made members of the AKP, especially in the run-up to elections. The personal data for fake party memberships are then obtained through corrupt officials in residents' registration offices. Such cases are particularly common in the strongholds of the Kurdish opposition.
Hüseyin Aykol, born in Manisa in 1952, first studied medicine and then political science at Ankara University. Until the military coup on 12 September 1980, he worked as a translator and editor for the Ser publishing house and was a member of the Turkish authors' union TYS. Aykol published the Turkish edition of the magazine "Socialism: Theory and Practice", which is published in 40 countries around the world. Shortly after the coup, he was arrested and spent almost ten years of his life in prison.
After his release from prison, Aykol devoted himself to journalism in the tradition of the free Kurdish press. He is one of several defendants who were convicted of terrorism charges in the "Özgür Gündem" trial, and he was also sentenced for allegedly insulting the president. Aykol currently works as editor-in-chief of Yeni Yaşam, which is the successor to the newspaper Özgür Gündem, which was banned in 2016. Further proceedings against Aykol are pending.
