Turkish police detains 12 people including DBP provincial co-chair in Van

Turkish police forces raided the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions’ Party (DBP) office and some houses in Turkey’s eastern province of Van on Thursday morning and detained 12 people including DBP provincial co-chair Ahmet Aygün.

According to the information given by pro-Kurdish media, Turkish police conducted raids on the office of the DBP’s Van branch in İpekyolu district as well as some houses and workplaces. 12 people were detained including Aygün, pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Van spokesperson Ramazan Duman and some other party officials.

Meanwhile, The Women Life Center opened by DBP’s Gürpınar Municipality was handed over by the appointed trustee to Women and Democracy Association (KADEM) where Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s daughter Sümeyye Erdoğan is vice president.

A trustee had been appointed following DBP’s Gürpınar Co-mayors Yıldız Çetin and Zeki Yıldız were removed from the office on February 3, 2017. Trustee mayor, Gürpınar District Governor Osman Doğramacı, has taken scandalous decisions such as shutting down community clinics and women’s centers in the district. The most recent scandalous decision taken by Doğramacı has been to hand over Gürpınar’s Women Life Center to the KADEM. It is alleged that Sümeyye Erdoğan is expected to visit Gürpınar to attend in KADEM’s opening ceremony in the coming days.

The Xeyri Şinik Daycare which was also opened DBP’s Gürpınar Municipality to provide education to children in Kurdish, was also targeted by the trustee Doğramacı. The trustee turned the daycare over to the district religious affairs directorate and it is now used as a Qur’an course. The trustee Doğramacı has appointed his wife Hatice Doğramacı as a director to the Xeyri Şinik Daycare.

Baby Muharrem Taş had come to the agenda in 2014 when he froze to death and his father had to carry his body in a sack.

According to the pro-Kurdish news sources, Muharrem Taş Community Clinic was also shut down by Doğramacı. The community clinic had been built in memory of baby Muharrem Taş, who had come to Turkey’s agenda in 2014 when he froze to death and his father had to carry his body in a sack. Since the district doesn’t have a hospital, the Community Clinic has met the people’s medical needs free of charge.

It also reported that trustee Doğramacı has fired 48 workers 3 weeks ago in the Gürpınar Municipality where a total of 73 subcontract employees were working.

Turkish government has followed a systematic crackdown by targeting pro-Kurdish politicians, political parties and municipalities. According to pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), 9,796 people affiliated with the HDP or DBP have been detained and 2,906 people have been arrested within the scope of operations targeting the pro-Kurdish parties since July 22, 2015. Moreover, since July 2016, a total of 5,471 people have been detained and 1,482 people have been arrested, including HDP Co-chairs Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ and other imprisoned deputies.

The number of local municipalities that have been taken away from elected mayors in predominantly Kurdish provinces has approached to 90. Turkish government has stepped up its crackdown on Kurdish politicians in recent months. Trustees have been appointed to dozens of municipalities in the country’s predominantly Kurdish Southeast, while hundreds of local Kurdish politicians have been arrested on terror charges. The systematic persecution targeting Kurds and elected Kurdish politicians have attracted widespread reactions from the region and Western countries

May 11, 2017

 

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