Bayik on the Elections Board exclusion of some BDP candidates
Bayik on the Elections Board exclusion of some BDP candidates
The decision by the YSK (Turkey’s Supreme Election Board) to prohibit members of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, from standing in the upcoming Turkish elections is unjust. This decision is attacking the unity of the Kurdish Freedom Movement and the democratic movement in Turkey. It is an attack on the unity of the Kurdish people. The Turkish State has never wanted the Kurdish and Turkish peoples to draw together. The state pursues policies of denial and aims to create separation and chaos among the people. Policies of annihilation are still practiced.
After the Turkish State saw that the Kurdish Freedom Movement was gaining ground it fell into a condition of fear and panic and election candidates supporting the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party who were to stand as independents were banned from standing. In this way the State tried to intervene and block the BDP from forming a group in parliament. However there was no choice but to reverse the decision after the Kurdish people protested against it.
With their struggle Kurdish people once again made it very clear that they are against annihilation, oppression and injustice and will continue their fight. Injustice was the reason for the initiation and intensification of the Kurdish people’s struggle. Now Kurdish people will not accept injustice. This reality demonstrates that Kurdish society is undergoing massive change.
This uprising of the Kurdish movement put the Turkish State in an increasingly uncomfortable position. For that reason the leader of MHP (Turkish Nationalist Movement Party), Devlet Bahceli, began his attacks. For the same reason the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek, who represents the Islamic AKP’s true identity, also attack the BDP. In two days of Kurdish protests against the decision five Kurdish children were wounded, two of them seriously, and other youths were attacked by the police. The cities of protest became like gas chambers and the policy and atmosphere of annihilation against Kurds indeed calls to mind Hitler’s Germany. The youth responded to police brutality and tear gas attacks with stones and Molotov cocktails and as a result were viciously assaulted by police. The very fact that the youth are struggling against Turkish state terror angers the state.
With very few exceptions the Turkish media did not report on the children and youths who were injured by bullets and tear gas. Unfortunately neither reporters nor columnists nor those who refer to themselves as intellectuals mentioned these children who were injured by gas bombs either in the print or broadcast media. However if during this struggle a young Kurd had wounded a police officer it would have been newsworthy for journalists. The reality is that over the past two months the police force has attacked the Kurdish people in their struggle and the Turkish media remains silent. This is the reality of the media controlled by oppressors and colonisers. There is no difference between the media now and the military-backed media of the 1990s. State-run TV stations in Turkey are constantly using the media to propagandise against Kurds. If they are concerned with the truth the Turkish media should behave more conscientiously on reporting the Kurdish issue.
After every attack on civilians in Turkey the state blames the victims. Attacks by state forces are legitimised and if you defend your rights you are seen as the guilty party. Cemil Cicek and Prime Minister Ergdogan are constantly supporting this kind of attitude legitimising police brutality. The AKP government briefs the media not to broadcast images of police attacks or of children injured by state terror. Only when the attack comes from protestors is it to be widely publicised. Such dirty politics has been going on for years in Turkey and the AKP is continuing such censorship.
When people stand up against tyranny in other states in the world many news agencies and TV stations discuss it. Every Turkish news agency should be discussing the reality of state-perpetrated violence. They should be constantly discussing the people’s uprising. But unfortunately because of the media’s political and economic interests they don’t wish to see that truth. For them a multi-million dollar helicopter contract is more important.
AKP stated in the press that they are against injustice and they offered Izmir as a base for NATO attacks against Libya. In order to strengthen support from NATO members they are helping the attack against Libya. For that reason the Kurdish Cities of Gas created by AKP will not be witnessed by anyone or come under the scrutiny of the international community.
Nowhere else on earth do police forces attack vehicles belonging to the municipal authority whose function is to help the people. In Kurdistan the police viciously attacked and destroyed council vehicles in Kurdish cities where local councils are controlled by BDP. When these police see Kurds it is like a red rag to a bull and they constantly attack the Kurds without seeing the truth. We have seen these images over and over again.
AKP has become very uncomfortable with the Kurdish democratic struggle in Turkey. Since the Kurds no longer follow Friday prayers if they are to be led by state mullahs AKP is particularly upset. That is why attacks not only against civilians but also against representatives are continuing. The Turkish premier’s policy was to fool the Kurds, and as he can no longer fool them it makes him angrier every day.
Erdogan understands that he will suffer greatly at the elections in Kurdistan. This is why BDP is targeted. BDP is the main obstacle to his controlling all Turkey. AKP can win certain gains in other parts of Turkey against CHP or MHP, however it will not gain in Kurdistan. This knowledge is causing fear and panic in the ruling party. It has issued the state-run Turkish media with the order to propagandise. AKP wants all media to unite against the BDP and attack as one. He wants the Kurdish desire for rights to remain hidden from the Turkish people and from the wider world. And the result is that the police are turning the Kurdish cities into prisons for Kurds.
Police terror has made every city a torture chamber. Thousands of Kurds have been imprisoned. Every day more Kurds are detained. They want to intimidated the Kurds with these measures. The State is employing every means at its disposal. And because the Kurdish Nation and the BDP will not bow to this pressure BDP is being targeted.
* Cemil Bayik, Member of the Executive Council of the People’s Union of Kurdistan (KCK)
After the Turkish State saw that the Kurdish Freedom Movement was gaining ground it fell into a condition of fear and panic and election candidates supporting the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party who were to stand as independents were banned from standing. In this way the State tried to intervene and block the BDP from forming a group in parliament. However there was no choice but to reverse the decision after the Kurdish people protested against it.
With their struggle Kurdish people once again made it very clear that they are against annihilation, oppression and injustice and will continue their fight. Injustice was the reason for the initiation and intensification of the Kurdish people’s struggle. Now Kurdish people will not accept injustice. This reality demonstrates that Kurdish society is undergoing massive change.
This uprising of the Kurdish movement put the Turkish State in an increasingly uncomfortable position. For that reason the leader of MHP (Turkish Nationalist Movement Party), Devlet Bahceli, began his attacks. For the same reason the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek, who represents the Islamic AKP’s true identity, also attack the BDP. In two days of Kurdish protests against the decision five Kurdish children were wounded, two of them seriously, and other youths were attacked by the police. The cities of protest became like gas chambers and the policy and atmosphere of annihilation against Kurds indeed calls to mind Hitler’s Germany. The youth responded to police brutality and tear gas attacks with stones and Molotov cocktails and as a result were viciously assaulted by police. The very fact that the youth are struggling against Turkish state terror angers the state.
With very few exceptions the Turkish media did not report on the children and youths who were injured by bullets and tear gas. Unfortunately neither reporters nor columnists nor those who refer to themselves as intellectuals mentioned these children who were injured by gas bombs either in the print or broadcast media. However if during this struggle a young Kurd had wounded a police officer it would have been newsworthy for journalists. The reality is that over the past two months the police force has attacked the Kurdish people in their struggle and the Turkish media remains silent. This is the reality of the media controlled by oppressors and colonisers. There is no difference between the media now and the military-backed media of the 1990s. State-run TV stations in Turkey are constantly using the media to propagandise against Kurds. If they are concerned with the truth the Turkish media should behave more conscientiously on reporting the Kurdish issue.
After every attack on civilians in Turkey the state blames the victims. Attacks by state forces are legitimised and if you defend your rights you are seen as the guilty party. Cemil Cicek and Prime Minister Ergdogan are constantly supporting this kind of attitude legitimising police brutality. The AKP government briefs the media not to broadcast images of police attacks or of children injured by state terror. Only when the attack comes from protestors is it to be widely publicised. Such dirty politics has been going on for years in Turkey and the AKP is continuing such censorship.
When people stand up against tyranny in other states in the world many news agencies and TV stations discuss it. Every Turkish news agency should be discussing the reality of state-perpetrated violence. They should be constantly discussing the people’s uprising. But unfortunately because of the media’s political and economic interests they don’t wish to see that truth. For them a multi-million dollar helicopter contract is more important.
AKP stated in the press that they are against injustice and they offered Izmir as a base for NATO attacks against Libya. In order to strengthen support from NATO members they are helping the attack against Libya. For that reason the Kurdish Cities of Gas created by AKP will not be witnessed by anyone or come under the scrutiny of the international community.
Nowhere else on earth do police forces attack vehicles belonging to the municipal authority whose function is to help the people. In Kurdistan the police viciously attacked and destroyed council vehicles in Kurdish cities where local councils are controlled by BDP. When these police see Kurds it is like a red rag to a bull and they constantly attack the Kurds without seeing the truth. We have seen these images over and over again.
AKP has become very uncomfortable with the Kurdish democratic struggle in Turkey. Since the Kurds no longer follow Friday prayers if they are to be led by state mullahs AKP is particularly upset. That is why attacks not only against civilians but also against representatives are continuing. The Turkish premier’s policy was to fool the Kurds, and as he can no longer fool them it makes him angrier every day.
Erdogan understands that he will suffer greatly at the elections in Kurdistan. This is why BDP is targeted. BDP is the main obstacle to his controlling all Turkey. AKP can win certain gains in other parts of Turkey against CHP or MHP, however it will not gain in Kurdistan. This knowledge is causing fear and panic in the ruling party. It has issued the state-run Turkish media with the order to propagandise. AKP wants all media to unite against the BDP and attack as one. He wants the Kurdish desire for rights to remain hidden from the Turkish people and from the wider world. And the result is that the police are turning the Kurdish cities into prisons for Kurds.
Police terror has made every city a torture chamber. Thousands of Kurds have been imprisoned. Every day more Kurds are detained. They want to intimidated the Kurds with these measures. The State is employing every means at its disposal. And because the Kurdish Nation and the BDP will not bow to this pressure BDP is being targeted.
* Cemil Bayik, Member of the Executive Council of the People’s Union of Kurdistan (KCK)
