After the Supreme Court’s filing of a case to close the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) support messages for HDP having been going viral and has become a trending topic on Twitter.
Many politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, intellectuals, and writers, as well as many social media users, published their messages using the hashtags # HDPHalktırKapatılamaz (HDP is the people and cannot be shut down).
They also reacted to the stripping of the HDP deputy Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu’s membership of the parliament. By using the hashtag #GergerlioğluYalnızDeğildir (Gergerlioğlu is not alone), also sending their messages direclty in support of the HDP deputy who has began a vigil in the parliament protesting the decision against him.
The end of their ‘democracy game’
HDP’ye kapatma davası açılması ile AKP-MHP’nin demokrasicilik oyunu da sonunda bitti. Artık herkes için neyin içinde olduğumuz netleşmiştir. Bu açık faşizm dönemini dayanışarak, omuz omuza aşacağız ve bu faşist bloğu tarihin çöplüğüne göndereceğiz…
— Barış Atay (@barisatay) March 17, 2021
Turkey Worker’s Party (TİP) Deputy Barış Atay wrote that the latest developments are the beginning of a new era for Turkey.
“Finally the AKP-MHP’s democracy game is over with the HDP’s closure case. It is now clear for everyone to see what we have been through. We will fight this upcoming period of fascism, shoulder to shoulder, and we will send this fascist block to the garbage bins of history..” he wrote.
‘Tragicomic’
Kapatın kardeşim kapatın HDP’yi. 600 kişiye de siyasi yasak koyun. Sonuç değişmez. İnsanların içindeki asgari adalet duygusunu yok edemezsiniz. Bu kez milyonlar bir araya gelir parti kurar, siz yine karalar bağlarsınız.
— nesrin nas (@Nesrinnas) March 17, 2021
Motherland Party (ANAP) former chair Nesrin Nas protested against the AKP-MHP government by tweeting:
“Just shut down it, my brother, close the HDP. Put a political ban on 600 people. The result does not change. You cannot finish the sense of injustice in people. This time, millions will come together to form a party, then you will have to think again. There is a sentence saying ‘The HDP is disrupting the indivisible integrity of the state with its nation’. Supreme Court wrote it in its application to the Constitutional Court for the closure of the HDP. However, if they do nothing towards people who formed a state that acts like the representative of a single party, but shut down the HDP, it would be tragicomic.”
Kati Piri: What has been done in Turkey is illegal
International solidarity also came for the HDP and Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu. Member of the European Parliament Kati Piri protested against the decisions in Turkey by saying that what the courts doing in Turkey is illegal.
In solidarity with HDP MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu!
Stripping him of his parliamentary immunity was illegal, immoral and a cowardly act.
— Kati Piri (@KatiPiri) March 17, 2021
‘No one can talk about democracy’
Journalist Banu Güven also reacted to the case regarding the HDP.
HDP'nin kapatılmasının yanında, 600'den fazla HDP'li hakkında siyasi yasak istenmiş. HDP'liler gelecek seçimlerde hiçbir varlık gösteremesin isteniyor. Bu kadar seçilmiş hapisteyken zaten demokrasiden söz edilemez, ama gelecek seçim en antidemokratik genel seçim olabilir.
— Banu Guven (@banuguven) March 17, 2021
“In addition to the HDP’s closure, more than 600 HDP members have been asked for a political ban. They do not want HDP members to be present in the next elections. No one can talk about democracy when these many elected people are in prison. The next election may be the most antidemocratic general election.”
Regarding the mainstream media’s attitudes towards the HDP Journalist Özlem Akarsu Çelik wrote
Bu akşam da televizyonda tek bir HDP temsilcisi olmadan HDP konuşulacak.
— Özlem Akarsu Çelik (@oakarsucelik) March 17, 2021
“Tonight again they will discuss the HDP on TV without anyone representing the HDP.”
‘You could not end this struggle in 26 years’
Writer Murat Uyurkulak said that he has been voting for pro-Kurdish parties since 90’s.
“Since 1995, from HADEP to HDP, I have always voted for peace, freedom, brotherhood … I have been a voter, a member, and I also worked during the elections. You haven’t finished it in 26 years, you cannot ever finish it either.”
‘HDP will be even more powerful when it returns’
Kürd siyasi tarihindeki partilerin kapatılmasına yönelik kendi yazdıkları raporlarda “parti kapatmak çare değil” diye yazmışlar.
Bunu yazanlar şimdi HDP’yi kapatmaya kalkıyor.2023 onlar için hayat memat meselesi HDP için değil.
HDP çok daha güçlü döner.— Said Sefa (@sefa_said) March 17, 2021
Journalist Said Sefa mentioned the reports prepared by the state offiicials during the Peace Process in Turkey
“In their reports that they wrote in the past regarding the Kurdish question, they say that the closure of parties is never a solution. Those who wrote this are now trying to shut down the HDP. 2023 is a matter of life and death for them, not for the HDP. HDP will be even more powerful when it returns”