Far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called for tough measures against the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) on Monday including the revocation of the citizenship of its members, the confiscation of their assets and the closure of the party.
The statement follows an incident recorded on video during the inauguration of Adnan Orhan and Fatma Gülan Önkol, the recently elected co-mayors of Diyarbakır’s Sur district from the DEM Party, when an attendee demanded the removal of pictures of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, and President Erdoğan while making derogatory remarks.
Social media users also accused the co-mayors of being involved in the incident. However, Orhan and Önkol distanced themselves from the controversy, stating that the comments were made by a non-member attendee and not by party officials.
These events led to the arrest of U.G., who was initially identified by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya and Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç as an official of the DEM Party. A lawyers’ association later revealed that U.G. is mentally challenged and as a result cannot serve as a party official.
In a statement released on the occasion of the Turkish parliament’s 104th anniversary, Bahçeli said that those who “do not embrace the Turkish flag” should have their citizenship revoked and their property confiscated. He advocated taking legal action against the DEM Party, including shutting it down and lifting the parliamentary immunity of its deputies.
According to Bahçeli, the authorities should not waste time with “appointing inspectors” to monitor the party’s activities but should rather act immediately.
Bahçeli was referring to Yerlikaya’s response to the incident of assigning inspectors to investigate the incident, while the DEM Party criticized the move as a distraction from issues such as embezzlement and irregular spending in municipalities previously administered by government-appointed trustees.
In the local elections of March 31, 2019, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the DEM Party’s predecessor, won 65 municipalities in Turkey’s eastern and southeastern regions. But due to the decisions of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) in six cases and the Interior Ministry, nearly 50 mayors have been removed from office or not allowed to assume office, while the government appointed trustees to their posts.
The DEM Party won in 85 cities, districts and villages, mainly in Kurdish areas in the local elections last month.
A tense political atmosphere has emerged in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast after a local election authority annulled the victory of Abdullah Zeydan, the DEM Party’s mayoral candidate for the eastern province of Van. This decision was overturned by the top election authority following an appeal by the party.