The Supreme Court Chief Prosecutor filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court (AYM) to ban the HDP. Democracy Party (DEP) Chair Hatip Dicle, DEHAP Chair Tuncer Bakırhan and HADEP General Secretary Hamit Geylani evaluated the law suit to ban the HDP for Mesopotamia Agency (MA).  

 

DİCLE: OUR ROOTS ARE SOLID

 

On February 18, 1994, DEP Headquarters and 8 party buildings were bombed. The party was closed by court decision on June 16 of the same year. Hatip Dicle, who was the Chair of the DEP at that time, said, “Our roots are very solid. Our first party was the People's Labor Party (HEP), which was founded in 1990, but in 1992, after the state's annihilation operations against the Kurdish movement, a closure case was filed against HEP and then it was closed. However, we had established the Democracy Party (DEP) as a precaution. DEP was actually established on a broad coalition. In other words, almost all Kurdish political movements were represented in that party. There were also representatives of Turkish revolutionary and socialist movements. Therefore, it was established as a broad-based party. DEP's life lasted 11 months, but considering the entire political process in Turkey; it was a party that created an earthquake effect. Similar to today's developments, the party was closed and the deputies were stripped of their statuses as MPs. We were dragged out of the Parliament with an operation by the decision of the National Security Council in 1994, before we were stripped from our statuses as MPs. The first time elected Kurdish MPs kicked out of the parliament was back in March 2, 1994."

 

Dicle told that this attitude is still alive today. Underlining that nothing changed in the last 27 years regarding the attitude of the state against the Kurds and the democracy forces in Turkey, Dicle said: "An MP of the HDP was stripped of from his status as an MP and a law suit was filed against the party to close it on the same day. The person who read the decision was Celal Adan. He was in the political arena as a DYP MP in our time and he was a close friend of Tansu Çiller and Doğan Güreş, perpetrator of burning down 4 thousand 500 villages in Kurdistan and the perpetrator of 17 thousand extrajudicial killings. He is on stage again today.  This time he presented himself and his disgrace once again as the Speaker of the Assembly ”.

 

THE PEOPLE WILL RESIST

 

Drawing attention to the fact that HDP is a continuation of the 30-year tradition, Dicle continued: “They can never be successful. We are the continuation of a 30-year tradition. The HDP is based on this tradition. Therefore, it will be the same. Just like we did before. We resisted at that time as well and continued the political struggle after being released from prisons. Closing the HDP will not be easy. Our people will resist. Nobody should have any doubts about this. As a party with 6 million votes; we will make them grumple in the gizzard. The HDP will be a bite of iron and it will break the teeth of those who try to swallow it. "

 

BAKIRHAN: WE WILL CONTINUE TO BE HERE

 

Democratic People's Party (DEHAP), which was sued more than once and banned from political activities had to repeal itself due to the law suits and pressures on the party back in November 19, 2005. The members and executives of the party were transferred to Democratic Society Party (DTP).

 

Tuncer Bakırhan, who was the Chairman of DEHAP at that time and is currently the HDP Deputy Co-Chair, said: "Parties are results, not reasons. As long as the reasons are there, parties will be established again no matter what its name or emblem is. But the voter base is permanent. Furthermore, the pressure on these parties and their victimization will make people more united around these parties. Underlining that they adopted democratic politics, Bakırhan said: "We will use the democratic political ground no matter what. We defend justice and humanity. We are a party that advocates fraternity and being able to live together in dignity. We are not the ones that should be banned, the only thing that should be banned is this state mind. We will continue to be here. We been banned before. We have stood many trials before. And we are still here."

 

GEYLANİ: THEY WILL GET STUCK

 

HADEP General Sekretery Hamit Geylani, whose party was banned unanimously on March 13, 2003 said this is not a case of banning a party but it is a situation of banning democracy. Geylani stated that human rights were violated with this decision.

 

Underlining that banning parties will not get anyone anywhere and that it is known, Geylani said: "I have served in all units of all our parties from bottom to top since HEP. Everytime they banned a party, the people united around the next one until we came where we are today. For this reason, banning HDP will not work for them, on the contrary, it will make them get stuck further. Therefore, AKP and MHP coming to the fore with such incidents on the eve of their congress, shows that economy, peace, human's rights and rule of law have collapsed in Turkey. They can do even worse things but this is the continuation of a process that has been repeated over the years. They can't get anything out of it. For 40 years they have been saying they will annihilate the Kurdish movement but they did not achieve anything. And after today, the democratic demands of the people will gain more momentum and rise higher."

 

 

MA / Selman Güzelyüz