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 the 11 May 1994[3] by lawyer Murat Bozlak. It has decided to distance 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
FoundedMay 1994 (1994-05)
BannedMarch 13, 2003 (2003-03-13)
Preceded byDemocracy Party
Succeeded byDemocratic People's Party
IdeologySocial democracy
Feminism
Green politics
Kurdish nationalism
Political positionCentre-left

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.[5] 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.[6] At the time the party hoped to become an important factor in Turkish politics.[6] But despite the oppression,[6] the party was successful in the local elections of April 1999, an won 37 mayorships, including the one of Diyarbakır.[7] The party survived the 1999 closure case but was banned by the Constitutional Court on 13 March 2003 on the grounds that it allegedly supported the PKK.[8] As a result, 46 politicians from the HADEP were banned from politics for 5 years.[9] Greece, the holder of the EU presidency at the time, issued a statement criticizing the events.[9]

The party was succeeded by the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP),[10] which was joined by 35 mayors of the former HADEP on the 26 March 2003.[11][12]

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.[13]

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. Güney 2002, p. 125.
  6. Staff, Guardian (1999-04-14). "Thousands held as Turkey bans Kurd election rally". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  7. Arat, Yeşim; Pamuk, Şevket (2019-09-05). Turkey between Democracy and Authoritarianism. Cambridge University Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-521-19116-6.
  8. Moghadam 2007, p. 86.
  9. "Turkey Outlaws Kurds' Main Party". Los Angeles Times. 2003-03-14. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  10. McDowall 2003, p. 463.
  11. 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.
  12. "Country Report Turkey, October 2005" (PDF). p. 127. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  13. 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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