13-01-2010
The arrest on December 24, 2009 of Muharrem Erbey, president of the national Human Rights Association and chairman of its Diyarbakir branch, was part of a broader operation by the anti-terror police, in which 36 people were detained of the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) were detained. The Diyarbakır prosecutor's office has an ongoing investigation against Kurdish politicians for alleged links with the PKK. Over 100 party officials and members have been arrested since April 2009. "Muharrem Erbey is well known for his tireless human rights work on behalf of Kurds," said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The government claims it wants to solve the Kurdish question, but this new wave of arrests shows it is still trying to restrict Kurdish activism and political participation." The timing of the newest wave of arrests, the day after many of those arrested joined the newly formed Peace and Democracy Party, and the decision to place the suspects in detention pending trial raises serious concerns that the right to political participation and representation for those involved in pro-Kurdish political activity in Turkey are being restricted, Human Rights Watch said. "This recent clampdown came just two weeks after the Democratic Society Party was banned and severely limits the right to political representation for the Kurdish minority," Sinclair-Webb said. "Following the Justice and Development Party government's encouraging talk of pursuing democratization in Turkey and of trying to solve the Kurdish problem, prosecutors have turned right around and taken new menacing steps against legal Kurdish political organizations." (Photo: Logo HRW)
