Turkey’s AKP government that has banned the Kurdish language in Kurdish cities and gives streets names like ‘Turkish sons’, ‘Homeland’ and ‘Flag’, is now trying to obtain a result through paramilitary structures it is creating.

In this scope, and ‘Van Patriots’ Association’ has been founded in Van city center and ‘Ottoman Hearths’ in its Erciş district. Dozens of youths that gathered in these “associations” were made to swear allegiance to Erdoğan with their hands on a coffin and the Turkish flag.

Such practices are intended to be conducted over the Arabs in Siirt, and Azeri and the Black Sea region’s people living in Van. Still, it came out that the mentioned communities that have been living with the Kurds in peace for long years have shown no interest in such structures which are therefore trying to attract university students, public personnel, and children of soldiers and police officers from the western cities of Turkey that are living in the Kurdish region.

HDP MP: THE ARMY OF THE PALACE IS BEING RAISED

Speaking to ANF about the mentioned structures being created, HDP Van MP Lezgin Botan called attention to the AKP government’s paradigm of creating polarization and hostility in the society that labels everyone who does not support the AKP and Erdoğan an enemy. According to Botan, this eventually intends to make the people with opposing views confront each other.

“This truth is manifested by the youths swearing on coffin and flag, which is indeed a very dangerous case as those people are getting conditioned accordingly. Especially in consideration of the current situation in the region, it is seen that the state is forming new reserve forces. These people disguised as civilians are the army of the Palace. They are trained as civilian paramilitary force by the special warfare. These are efforts to disseminate the AKP’s mindset to the society separately from the official law enforcement forces. These people are getting positioned in all areas of life. These are not ordinary incidents and they create great dangers.”

Botan remarked that the so-called associations and structures are being organized against a wide range of societal groups that do not support the AKP; i.e. the Kurds, women and leftists. He noted that these structures are using ethnical and religious sensitivities and otherise cultural, sexual and denominational identities.

HDP MP called for awareness against such organisations that later turn into mafia-like structures, stressing that: “These organisations will serve dirty plans. The goal is to recruit fighters. Thousands of young people are being sent into Syria to support the jihadist groups. And we know that countless youths are being held in some certain dormitories and used for dirty operations in Van and Amed. The state already has official forces. Any structure outside of them is illegal and we do not accept them. The youth being used against democratic politics could result in dire consequences.”