People's Democracy Party

People's Democracy Party (Turkish: Halkın Demokrasi Partisi, HADEP) was a Kurdish[1][2] political party in Turkey. It was founded on 11 May 1994[3] by lawyer Murat Bozlak. It had distanced itself clearly from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).[4]

For other uses, see People's Democracy Party (disambiguation).
People’s Democracy Party
Kurdish:
Turkish: Halkın Demokrasi Partisi, HADEP
LeaderMurat Bozlak
ChairpersonMurat Bozlak (1994–1999)
Ahmet Turan Demir (1999–2000)
Murat Bozlak (2000–2003)
FoundedMay 1994 (1994-05)
BannedMarch 13, 2003 (2003-03-13)
Preceded byDemocracy Party
Succeeded byDemocratic People's Party
IdeologySocial democracy
Feminism
Green politics
Kurdish rights
Political positionCentre-left

The party had 2 chairmen, Murat Bozlak who chaired the party for two terms between 1994 and 1999 and 2000 until its closure in 2003 and Ahmet Turan Demir, who served as party chairman from September 1998 to November 1999.[5] During the electoral campaign towards the parliamentary elections of 1995, the political environment was hostile to the HADEP and the Welfare Party (RP) thought that HADEP was only permitted to compete to limit the influence of the RP.[6] Anyway, following the elections, suspicions of fraud emerged, as a HADEP candidate allegedly didn't even receive one vote in his village of origin, also not from his wife.[7] At the party congress in June 1996 masked men dropped the Turkish flag and raised the PKK flag. As a result of this, all HADEP members were arrested.[8] The party came severely under pressure after Italy refused to extradite Abdullah Öcalan to Turkey. Dozens of party members were detained and accused for having supported a country wide hunger strike in protest of the Turkish approach towards the Kurdish Turkish conflict.[9] In January 1999, 41 HADEP members who were detained in November 1998 were released but 4 others remained in custody.[10] In the electoral campaign towards the general and local elections of April 1999, it faced opposition from the Turkish authorities. The rally planned in Diyarbakır the week before the elections was prohibited and thousands of people were detained.[11] At the time, the party hoped to become an important factor in Turkish politics.[11] But despite the oppression,[11] the party was successful in the local elections of April 1999, an won 37 mayorships, including the one of Diyarbakır.[12] HADEP politicians and supporters were often detained, as happened before a manifestation organized by the HADEP on the 1 September 2001 in memory of World Peace Day.[13] As the HADEP was repeatedly accused of supporting terror, in 2002 it received the support from the Socialist International (SI) who demanded from Turkey that it provides a framework for a fair environment for a pluralistic democracy.[14] The party was banned by the Constitutional Court on 13 March 2003 on the grounds that it allegedly supported the PKK.[15] The courts leading judge Mustafa Bumin stated that the party was a threat concerning the indivisibility of the Turkish Republic[16] As a result, 46 politicians from the HADEP were banned from politics for 5 years.[17] Greece, the holder of the EU presidency at the time, issued a statement criticizing the events.[17]

The party was succeeded by the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP),[18] which was joined by 35 mayors of the former HADEP on the 26 March 2003.[19][20]

In 2010, the party's dissolution was unanimously found by European Court of Human Rights to be contrary to Article 11 (freedom of association) of the European Convention on Human Rights.[21]

Notes
  1. Christoph Marcinkowski, The Islamic World and the West: Managing Religious and Cultural Identities in the Age of Globalisation, LIT Verlag Münster, 2009, ISBN 978-3-643-80001-5, p. 168.
  2. Lenore G. Martin, New Frontiers in Middle East Security, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001, ISBN 978-0-312-23992-3, p. 140.
  3. Gunes, Cengiz (2013-01-11). The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From Protest to Resistance. Routledge. p. 164. ISBN 9781136587986.
  4. Rubin, Barry; Heper, Metin (2013-12-16). Political Parties in Turkey. Routledge. p. 125. ISBN 9781135289386.
  5. Fırat, Nuri; Yıldız, Yılmaz (3 May 2017). "Almost All Party Chairs Served Jail Term". Bianet - Bagimsiz Iletisim Agi. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  6. Barkey, Henri J. (2000-01-01). Turkey's Kurdish Question. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-585-17773-1.
  7. McDowall, David (2002). "Asylum seekers from Turkey II" (PDF). Refworld. Asylum Aid. p. 121.
  8. Güney 2002, p. 125.
  9. "Reuters Archive Licensing". Reuters Archive Licensing. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  10. Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Turkey: Update to TUR22841.E of 19 January 1996 regarding the People's Democracy Party (HADEP); legal status of the party, harassment of known members and supporters (1998-1999)". Refworld. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  11. Guardian Staff (1999-04-14). "Thousands held as Turkey bans Kurd election rally". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  12. Arat, Yeşim; Pamuk, Şevket (2019-09-05). Turkey between Democracy and Authoritarianism. Cambridge University Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-521-19116-6.
  13. McDowall, David (2002). "Asylum seekers from Turkey II" (PDF). Refworld. Asylum Aid. p. 122.
  14. "Resolution on HADEP". Socialist International. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  15. Moghadam 2007, p. 86.
  16. "Turkey's Constitutional Court Issues Ruling Against Pro-Kurdish HADEP - 2003-03-13 | Voice of America - English". www.voanews.com. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  17. "Turkey Outlaws Kurds' Main Party". Los Angeles Times. 2003-03-14. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  18. McDowall 2003, p. 463.
  19. Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Turkey: The situation and treatment of members, supporters and sympathizers of leftist parties, particularly the People's Democratic Party (HADEP) and Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) (January 2003 - September 2004)". Refworld. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  20. "Country Report Turkey, October 2005" (PDF). p. 127. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  21. Judgment in case 28003/03

References
  • Güney, Aylin (2002). "The People's Democracy Party". Turkish Studies. 3 (1): 122–137.
  • Moghadam, Valentine M. (2007). From Patriarchy to Empowerment: Women's Participation, Movements, and Rights in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-3111-1.
  • McDowall, David. (2003) A Modern History of the Kurds (London: I.B. Tauris, 2003), p. 463. ISBN 978-1850434160
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