For years, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has been subject to repression in Turkey. Time and again, its politicians have been targeted by the judiciary, and thousands are already in prison. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants to get rid of the political competition once and for all because he realizes that his majority in parliament and his own office are in danger in the next elections. For the third time in a week, there have now been raids by Turkish police against HDP members across the country.

Following operations against women's structures in Batman on Tuesday and Wednesday, police took action early on Friday in Istanbul and ten other provinces in the country, including Edirne, Izmir, Mardin and Bingöl. In Istanbul, the headquarters of the HDK (Peoples' Democratic Congress) was stormed, doors were broken down, several computers and digital storage media were seized, as well as various other materials - including personal items belonging to former HDP chairwoman Figen Yüksekdağ, who has been held political hostage since 2016. At least 42 people are wanted in the investigation led by the Tekirdağ Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, and some are already in police custody.

The background to the action against the HDK, and thus the organizing body of hundreds of groups and political activists from which the HDP emerged in 2012, are so-called terror charges. The Tekirdağ Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses the defendants of acting "in the spirit of the PKK's goals." It claims that the HDK was established to "realize democratic autonomy" as a parliament-like structure in order to act as an "alternative" to the Turkish National Assembly. This structure is "clearly identical in content and organization" to the paradigm of the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union), the umbrella organization of the Kurdish liberation movement to which the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) also belongs. Reports in the pro-government Turkish press speak of an "operation against the western structure of the KCK."  

Parallel to the new wave of repression against the HDP and the HDK, an arrest operation was also launched in Istanbul against the migration association Göçiz-Der. Apartments and the Istanbul headquarters were stormed in numerous counties in the province and four other cities, and 22 of a total of 28 wanted persons are now in custody. Here, too, the justification refers to alleged links to the PKK. According to the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Göçiz-Der misuses European Union and United Nations funding for "PKK propaganda." The association is alleged to use the funds from abroad for "brochures and seminars" to act in line with the spirit of the PKK.

The HDP was outraged, but not at all surprised. It said the waves of arrests with reference to alleged PKK links were another pretext to get rid of unwelcome opponents. "This mentality, which declares every person who demands democracy, peace, equality, rights and freedoms in this country to be 'terrorists' and uses the judiciary as well as the security apparatus as a cudgel against them, targets the most dynamic parts of the society. It is no coincidence that the HDK, the Göçiz-Der and our party in particular are the targets of these attacks. This mentality, which considers the HDP and its components as the greatest danger to it and therefore has been trying to liquidate our party with great hatred and anger for years, is now targeting the HDK, the most democratic, pluralistic and dazzling self-organization of this country, which embodies all colors of this country's society,” HDP said in a statement on Friday.

“The AKP is hostile to all democratic, pluralistic, diverse and colorful views and opinions. Therefore, it is in its nature to push groups organized within the HDK, which include the working class, laborers, migrants, women's groups, farmers' associations, youth organizations, the elderly, the physically disabled, the ignored and oppressed, ethnic and religious communities, out of their living spaces and confront them with destruction in many ways. AKP embodies a manifestation of monism and dark mentality that it wants to impose on the whole society. We have known this mentality from the 1990s. The fact that the Göçiz-Der Association, which was founded by survivors of the scorched earth policy in force in Kurdistan at the time, has also been targeted by the state-directed judiciary makes it unmistakably clear that the AKP is today's representative of this dark period. No matter what else the AKP manages to do, it will lose. HDK and HDP will rebuild the future of this country with their pluralist nature, diversity and democratic mentality.”

In Istanbul, representatives of the HDP, some member parties and Göçiz-Der gathered in front of the HDK headquarters to protest against the waves of arrests. Among them were HDP deputies Tülay Hatimoğulları, Musa Piroğlu, Dilşat Canbaz and Sezai Temeli, as well as activists from the leftist and socialist parties SYKP, ESP and DP. "We will not be intimidated," said HDK spokeswoman Esengül Demir. She said it was reckless to think the organizing body would abandon its liberal and democratic paradigm" because of the repression. "These actions by a mafia-like state cannot impress us,” she underlined.