Democratic confederalism, Events, Rojava/North East Syria, Video, Women's Alliance for Kurdistan in Iraq and Syria

Towards a Democratic Society with the Co-Chair System

The Kurdish Women’s Movement has played a pioneering role in the re-establishment of women’s position in political and social life. The co-chair system enables women to institutionalise the transformations in gender relations and make way for the democratisation of society and a free common life.

In this webinar, Ayşe Berktay (HDP, Women’s Assembly) will provide an insight into the origins and practice of the co-chair system and share experiences within the HDP.

Political prisoners

The Trial of Selahattin Demirtas: An Eye Witness Account.

On the evening of the 7th of September 2018 at around 7.30pm having returned to my hotel room in Istanbul I happened to have a news channel on. I noticed as part of the headline news feed running across at the bottom of the screen, the following; “former co-chair of the HDP (Peoples Democratic Party) Sellahattin Demirtas has been sentenced to 4 years and 8 months for the propaganda of a “terrorist” organisation. There was no other commentary about it apart from this simple banner.

What was interesting about this method of reporting was that it deliberately gave no room for context and or analysis for the piece of “news” in question. Based on the backdrop of a complete media embargo on reporting the various prosecutions against Mr. Demirtas it is difficult to therefore regard this as ‘news’. It was rather a continuation of the campaign to criminalise the former pro-Kurdish leader of the HDP, the third largest political party in Turkey and through him an entire people. Unfortunately, this level of misinformation and deployed methods of criminalisation is exactly how the Kurdish civil society movement for peace and human rights is being marginalised by being portrayed as the criminal “other”. My immediate thoughts about the banner ‘news’ was how it completely resonated with the Courts approach and the injustices that we personally observed. Continue reading “The Trial of Selahattin Demirtas: An Eye Witness Account.” →

Political prisoners

HDP Statement on the Demirtas and Onder Verdict, plus the text of the Demirtas speech, which was used in the indictment against him.

To the attention of the Press;

A court has ruled in the case of our former Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş as well as our 26th term Member of Parliament Sırrı Süreyya Önder that brought charges related to the role they played in the peace and solution process. Demirtaş was sentenced to four years and eight months imprisonment, while Önder was sentenced to three years and six months.
The case itself, as well as the verdict released today, is not rooted in law, but is a political verdict. This decision is a clear sign of the government’s politics, which are anti-peace and insist on war. Continue reading “HDP Statement on the Demirtas and Onder Verdict, plus the text of the Demirtas speech, which was used in the indictment against him.” →

Conflict resolution

European Lawyers Delegation visits Diyarbakir

Press release

A delegation of European lawyers will visit Diyarbakir from 21st to 24th January 2016. The 13 participants come from Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Austria. Two European lawyers’ organisations are supporting this initiative, the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH) and the European Democratic Lawyers (EDL) and also the “Unione delle Camere Penali Italiane”

  Continue reading “European Lawyers Delegation visits Diyarbakir” →