Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party drew attention on Monday with a striking social media slogan, “From HEP (People’s Labour Party) to DEM, the journey for freedom continues.”
Accompanied by a video, the message honours the legacy of previously banned pro-Kurdish parties and emphasises the DEM Party’s continued commitment to the fight for freedom and equality in Turkey.
Written in Kurdish, the message translates into a resolute vow of perseverance: “The struggle continues. We will reach the summit with the pride of all the colours of our party, under the banner of DEM.”
The video opens with archive footage of Orhan Doğan, a prominent Kurdish human rights lawyer and politician, engaging with the public. Notably, Doğan was one of the pioneering Kurdish deputies from the Democracy Party (DEP) elected in 1991. His parliamentary immunity was lifted in 1994, leading to his arrest and subsequent conviction alongside fellow DEP MPs Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle and Selim Sadak, resulting in a 15-year sentence.
After his release in 2004, Doğan played a key role in founding another pro-Kurdish political party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP). His death in 2007 from a heart attack while giving a speech left a lasting impact on the Kurdish political landscape.
Pro-Kurdish parties have faced numerous legal obstacles and dissolution attempts since the 1990s. Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), now obsolete having faced a repeated threat of closure, strategically aligned its candidates with the Green Left Party in the May 2023 elections in order to avoid possible exclusion from the
The Green Left Party later announced that it would continue its journey under the name of the DEM Party. With this step into the Turkish political scene on 14 October 2023, the DEM Party became the latest in a series of pro-Kurdish parties that have survived political pressure.
The journey of pro-Kurdish political activism has been punctuated by landmark events such as the 1991 “Oath Crisis” triggered by Leyla Zana’s use of the Kurdish language in the Turkish parliament, followed by a series of legal challenges against pro-Kurdish groups such as HEP, DEP and HADEP, culminating in their dissolution.
The evolution from HEP in the early 1990s to DEM Party in 2023 encapsulates a steadfast effort to maintain Kurdish political engagement in the face of adversity, achieving notable electoral successes and advancing discourse on Kurdish rights.
