Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia), a leading left-wing political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia denounced the Turkish government on Wednesday due to the detention of a group of international election observers on 14 May.
The party expressed support for Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and said that they would not be deterred by intimidation and repression in their efforts “to denounce Erdoğan’s regime internationally” in their statement.
“Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government has systematically persecuted the Kurdish people through the systematic violation of human rights that is exacerbated during the various elections,” reads the statement. “The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has seen its mayors debarred, their parliamentarians arrested, and legal proceedings with the prospect of being outlawed, etc.”
“There is no denying that the intention of the Turkish government was to intimidate and coerce any international findings of the systematic violations of human rights and of the democratic system,” stressed the Esquerra Republicana.
“Northern Kurdistan and Turkey as a whole are under an authoritarian, repressive government which we hope will change in the second round of the elections scheduled for the 28th May,” the party concluded.
During the run up to Turkey’s 14 May elections, the pro-Kurdish Green Left Party, through which the HDP ran, invited international organisations, political parties, trade unions and activists to serve as election observers. Spain sent a ten-person delegation to Siirt (Sêrt), a Kurdish-majority south-eastern province of Turkey.
Three of the Spanish observers were detained by police as soon as the polls opened on the Sunday morning over claims that the delegates had violated election rules and lacked the necessary accreditation. They were released temporarily in the evening but re-detained when the detainees sought assistance from the Spanish embassy.
The following day, Monday 15 May, the delegation was escorted to an airport for deportation, accompanied by lawyers from the Green Left.
The incident has strained diplomatic relations between the two countries, with concerns over Turkey’s commitment to democratic values and the treatment of foreign observers.