The Turkish judiciary continues to turn up the repression screw against the democratic opposition. In connection with the HDK (Peoples' Democratic Congress), ten more HDP (Peoples' Democratic Party) politicians were arrested in the western Turkish port city of Tekirdağ on Friday evening. Nine of those arrested are Kenan Yıldız, Arif İsmet Yılmaz, Yakup Aslan, Kerem Tosun, Fisun İşçan, Melahat Çelik, Ercan Ogeday, Alev Ateş and Ceren Karaca. They are accused of membership in a "terrorist organisation". If convicted, they face long prison sentences.

The arrest warrants issued by the Tekirdağ Criminal Court are based on a preliminary investigation by the chief public prosecutor’s office which declared the HDK to be the "western structure of the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) and is criminalising the organising body of hundreds of groups and political actors from which the HDP emerged.

The chief public prosecutor's office in Tekirdağ accused those affected by the wave of repression of acting "in the spirit of the PKK's goals”, arguing that the HDK was established as a parliament-like structure to "realize democratic autonomy" and to act as an "alternative" to the Turkish National Assembly. This structure is claimed to be "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.

The criminalisation of the HDK, which is considered a legal organisation even by the Turkish judiciary, goes hand in hand with the political campaign of destruction against Kurdish society that has been going on since 2015.

With the latest arrests, the number of those remanded in custody in connection with the HDK trial has risen to 29. Ten leading members of the HDP are still in police custody. They were detained the Friday before last as part of a nationwide arrest operation in eleven provinces. Among the politicians already arrested is Sadi Özdemir, a severely disabled person who is dependent on a respirator. 55-year-old Saadet Fırat is a cancer patient and was arrested during a therapy session in a hospital. She, too, is now in pre-trial detention.