Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MPs have called for an investigation on the alleged illegal organisations within the Turkish state that cause corruption, in a written enquiry to the Turkish parliament submitted on Tuesday.
Turkey has seen many instances of unlawful cliques and organisations forming within state bodies in the past, with involvement from members of the military and bureaucracy, as well as politicians and businesspeople, Mezopotamya Agency cited lawmakers Saruhan Oluç and Meral Danış Beştaş as saying in the enquiry.
“Such cliques have existed within the state since the foundation of the republic and benefit from many privileges,” the MPs said. “They have caused serious damage to democracy in Turkey.”
These organisations outside of the law occupied the agenda throughout the 1970s and 1990s and contributed to the turmoil in the country, while also playing a direct role in the economic collapse, Oruç and Beştaş said, adding that the organisations aimed to eliminate democracy and the rule of law in the country, polarise public discourse, and hinder societal demands.
The MPs believe that Turkey deliberately obscures facts and refuses to investigate links in cases of assassinations against dissidents and Kurds, the most recent example being December’s Paris Massacre where three Kurdish activists were killed in a shooting in the French capital.