“A coup attempt was carried out by some putschists against other putschists" because "the current government is on power thanks to a 'civilian' coup and it is necessary to take a clear-cut stance against both pro-coup mindsets and fight them. To govern by means of an election held in the sequel of war, violence and bombing the cities is like a 'civilian' coup and it is as much illegal as the coup forces that tried to overtake the power via militarily means, with tanks and guns”.
So said Selahattin Demirtaş, Co-Chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party - Halkların Demokratik Partisi (HDP), in an interview he granted to Osman Oğuz for Yeni Ozgur Politik.org and published on HDP Website, in which he condemned without any hesitations the “putsch” by which, in the night of 15 July, part of the military tried to seize power in Turkey and oust President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Demirtaş recalls that democracy in the country had already been upended for months due to the effects of the crackdown against the opposition forces, the independent media and the population of the South-Eastern regions with a Kurdish majority.
His party - founded in 2012 by filo-Kurdish forces and representatives of the environmentalist and feminist forces and religious minorities - had already firmly distanced itself from the failed military coup, in the same night of the attack, through a joint note by Demirtaş and Co-President Figen Yüksekdağ, asserting the opposition in principle to any kind of coup, under any circumstances and as a principle. “Turkey immediately needs to embrace a pluralist and liberal democracy, domestic and external peace, universal democratic values and conventions”.
In the interview, Demirtaş explained that the responsibilities of the governing party AKP cannot be erased only because a group of army officials tried to take the power away from him: the only alternative is that democratic forces prevail, otherwise the coup of the AKP will gain strength. Furthermore he recalls that the Kurdish moment has not taken advantage of the failed coup to enter the cities seizing the occasion of the chaos that was there. “Erdoğan accused the Kurdish movement to be plotting against him together with the parallel structures and justified by this reason the end of the peace process. But Kurdish people did not take sides with putschists, instead they firmly support the peoples' struggle for democracy.The Co-Chair of HDP also mentioned the risk of attacks by the AKP supporters against the Kurds and other minorities such as the Alevites, leftwing exponents and intellectuals.
Such danger was reported yesterday also by the HDP Imrali Delegation, formed by the deputies already charged with following the negotiations for a peaceful solution of the conflict between the state and the Kurdish autonomist movement, liaising between the government and Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê - PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party banned in Turkey), sentenced to life in jail and detained in the prison of the island of Imrali in nearly total isolation.
In a press conference, the members of the Imrali Delegation, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, İdris Baluken and Pervin Buldan, called for an urgent meeting with Öcalan and the end of the isolation penalty. This is a condition that, after the coup attempt, exposes the inmate to serious risks for his safety. The deputies have reminded that Öcalan had been the first one to talk about a parallel structure that was infiltrating the state institutions and sought to sabotage the peace process. "KCK operations are an example of these forms of sabotage. Öcalan's security must be reviewed, because a possible attack against Imrali would draw Turkey into an unending civil law", according to the members of the HDP Delegation of Imrali.
In the meanwhile, the post-coup crackdown carried out by the government goes on, with the proclamation of the state of emergency in the whole country for three months, based on article 120 of the Constitution in order to "eliminate the terror organization" run by the followers of Islamist ideologue Fetullah Gülen, in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, after breaking a long-standing alliance with Erdoğan. Following this measure, the European convention on Human Rights (providing any citizen with the opportunity to address an appeal to the European Courts of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case of violations committed by its state) was suspended. This event is raising lots of worries in the light of the mass arrests and the threats addressed to the alleged members of the parallel organization.
The state of emergency was approved by the Parliament of Ankara with 346 votes in favour and 115 against among the deputies of CHP (secular republican party of Kemalist inspiration) and HDP, which, through a note accused the government of choosing a pathway headed to foster hate and violence and called for all the institutions committed to peace and labor, unions, chamber of all professions, mass organizations, women, youths, political parties and all the citizens to mobilize for peoples' safety and freedom and for the democratic future of Turkey.
The coup attempt, that caused 246 deaths and over 1,550 wounded, was followed by the government's decision to respond with over 9.300 arrests and a long list of dismissions that hit 9,000 policemen and public officials and over 21,700 employees of the Education Ministry, while the licences for 21,000 employees of the private schools were called off.
Turkey's Higher Education Board (YÖK) demanded the resignation of all the 1.557 deans of the private and state universities all over the country, of which over 1.100 are in charge of state universities, and ordered universities to suspend all academic charges abroad and call back all academics who are currently abroad for professional charges, except for exceptional cases. Also for 626 schools and institutions managed by Gülen's movement the closure was decided.
The Chief prosecutor has issued arrest warrants for 100 judges and prosecutors, among whom 86 were detained by police and 32 were ordered to remain in custody.
Also the media were silenced, including several different tv channels, with the revocation of the licenses for their activity: STV, Samanyolu Haber, Samanyolu Haber Radyo, Can Erzincan TV, Kanal 124, Yumurcak TV, Hira TV, MC TV, Dünya TV, Kanal Türk, Bugün TV, Mehtap TV, Berfin FM and Kanal Türk were suspended for alleged involvement in the coup, according to the Website Middle East Eye.
Human rights groups have launched the alarm for the serious threats to freedoms in Turkey and the possible reintroduction of the death penalty (abolished in 2004), which demonstrators in favour of Erdoğan demanded for those behind the coulp attempt and that was mentioned by the President. Amnesty International has announced that it is investigating on the news from Ankara. "Mass arrests and suspensions are deeply worrying in a context of increasing intolerance of peaceful dissent on the part of the Turkish government, and there is a risk that this crackdown will be extended to journalists and civil society activists. In recent months political activists, journalists and others critical of public officials or government policy have been frequently targeted and media outlets seized,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International Director for Europe and Central Asia.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, called on Turkish authorities to respond to the attempted military coup by upholding the rule of law, strengthening the protection of human rights and reinforcing democratic institutions. "In the aftermath of such a traumatic experience, it is particularly crucial to ensure that human rights are not squandered in the name of security and in the rush to punish those perceived to be responsible", he said in a note. "Reintroduction of the death penalty would be in breach of Turkey's obligations under international human rights law – a big step in the wrong direction. I urge the Turkish Government to refrain from turning back the clock on human rights protections".
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