Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP) Co-chair Tülay Hatimoğulları criticised the Turkish government’s cross-border military attacks on Kurdish regions in Syria and Iraq, during a recent party meeting on Tuesday. She accused President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of committing war crimes and suggested he should face trial in The Hague International Criminal Court (ICC).
Hatimoğulları highlighted the plight of Kurds in North and East Syria, known as Rojava. “Erdoğan forgets that he was the architect of the government that committed war crimes in Rojava. He forgets how the Kurdish people and little babies were massacred in Rojava and his part in it,” she said. “There are so many people to be tried in The Hague. One of them is Erdoğan.”
She also addressed the situation in Suruç (Pirsus), a Kurdish populated southeastern town in Turkey, claiming government-appointed trustees neglect and retaliate against communities that do not support Erdoğan’s ruling party. She described this as part of a broader policy to subdue the Kurdish population through appointing trustees in various municipalities across the country.
In the context of the upcoming local elections, Hatimoğulları vowed to dismantle barriers erected by the government against the Kurdish population, and expressed confidence in the Kurdish people’s resolve to overcome the governmental practice of trustee appointment. HEDEP will nominate a diverse range of candidates, including women, youth, and disabled individuals, she added, to challenge the male-dominated political culture.
