Society for Threatened Peoples demands release

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) in Göttingen six imprisoned politicians, nominated as independent candidates for the pro-Kurdish Labor, Freedom and Democracy bloc and recently elected to Turkish parliament, are still being held in prison. The human rights organization on Tuesday demanded the immediate release of the future representatives, who were imprisoned in the run-up to the elections for alleged "membership in a terrorist organization." The STP reports that in point of fact, the six politicians having been working for the political, cultural and national rights of the Kurdish population in Turkey. Among the prisoners is the popular Kurdish politician Hatip Dicle, from the Kurdish metropolis of Diyarbakir in southern Anatolia. He won the election there with 80,000 votes.

His pro-Kurdish fellow party members Selma Irmak from Sirnak (46,000 votes), Faysal Sar?y?ld?z from Sirnak (40,000 votes), Gülseren Y?ld?r?m from Mardin (56,000 votes), ?brahim Ayhan from Urfa (77,000 votes) and Kemal Akta? from Van (65,000 votes) were also elected to parliament by large majorities.

To quickly block Dicle from entering parliament, a court sentenced him three days before the election on 9 June to serve a prison term of one year and eight months. Dicle was elected to the Turkish parliament for the first time in May 1991. But because he worked for equality under the law for Turks and Kurds, parliament revoked his and his associates' political immunity in 1994. In December of the same year, Dicle and former representatives Leyla Zana, Orhan Doan and Selim Sadak were sentenced to 15 years in prison for alleged membership in a terrorist organization, and for treason. Widespread international solidarity helped to get them released in June 2004, after they had served almost ten years. Dicle was banned from going back into politics, and was arrested again in April 2010. He has been in prison ever since.

"Hatip Dicle is being punished because he works toward a democratic and diverse Turkey, where not only Turks but also Kurds, Assyrian-Aramaeans, Armenians, Laz, Alevis and Yazidi can live in peace and equality," criticized STP founder Tilman Zülch. In the election last Sunday the pro-Kurdish bloc attained huge victories in spite of mass arrests and harassment, including being banned from running in the election. Thirty-six pro-Kurdish independent candidates were elected to parliament, among them a representative of the Assyrian-Aramaean Christian minority. Erol Dora will be the first Assyrian-Aramaean politician ever to have a seat in a Turkish parliament. He was nominated by the pro-Kurdish BDP party and supported by the Kurdish Muslim population in the province of Mardin. He received roughly 53,000 votes.