{"id":2316,"date":"2024-04-22T11:00:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecosocialist.scot\/?p=2316"},"modified":"2024-04-22T12:37:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T12:37:03","slug":"kurdistan-scottish-activist-interviewed-on-turkeys-local-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecosocialist.scot\/?p=2316","title":{"rendered":"Kurdistan: Scottish activist interviewed on Turkey’s local elections"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From a polling station in the \u015eirnak mountains \u2013 an interview with Hazel, an election observer from Scotland for the 31 March local elections in Turkey.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sarah Glynn talks to one of two Scottish women who came to observe the elections at the invitation of the DEM Party [Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party – see note 1]<\/em>. Hazel describes the militarisation of the region and the psychological pressure on voters. She witnessed the mass voting by soldiers brought in from outside the region, and saw the anger and worry in \u015eirnak (\u015eirnex) after their election was stolen by imported votes. And she emphasises the power of Kurdish resistance.<\/p>\n

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Hazel was observing the election at the invitation of the DEM Party, and was sent to village polling stations in the \u015eirnak (\u015eirnex) mountains. She describes a heavily militarised region, and militarised police and armoured vehicles outside the polling stations. Despite having become accustomed to the constant military presence, voters described feelings of intimidation and psychological pressure on account of the people outside the polling stations, who included families of AKP members.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Hazel saw a military helicopter that they were informed had brought soldiers to vote, and witnessed a long line of soldiers in civilian dress waiting to cast their ballots. But the observers were restricted in where they could go, and in inspecting voter lists.<\/p>\n

She contrasted the victory celebrations in Diyarbakir (Amed) with the anger and worry in \u015eirnak \u2013 at the stolen election due to the votes of thousands of soldiers brought from outside, and at the prospect of the coming years of AKP control. And she described the immediate post-election repression and arrests in \u015eirnak.<\/p>\n

Hazel attended protest statements in Amed, following the government\u2019s refusal to recognise the elected mayor of Van, and observed the importance of the presence of the Saturday Mothers.<\/p>\n

She finished by trying to convey the sense of powerful resistance that she could feel in the Kurdish region and that she was reluctant to leave behind.<\/p>\n

Below is the full transcript of the interview:<\/p>\n

\"\u015e\u0131rnak
\u015e\u0131rnak mountians<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dem ba\u015f. This is Sarah Glynn for Media News, and I\u2019m talking today with Hazel, who is one of two women who came from Scotland to observe the elections at the invitation of the DEM Party, and is just now in the airport on her way back to the UK.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, Hazel, obviously a lot has happened since the actual election itself, but you were there to observe the election, so I think we should start with that. And I wondered, for the benefit of people who\u2019ve not been to a Turkish election, if you could just describe \u2013 well, describe where you went, where you were \u2013 but also what the polling station is like, who\u2019s allowed in, what sort of privacy you get for voting, what sort of security there is to protect the ballots themselves, and whether there\u2019s pressure on the voters from people outside.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, so I\u2019ve also been to the general election last year, which was a little bit different to this year\u2019s municipal elections, and I think it\u2019s also a little bit regional. So, all over Kurdistan region, also Turkey, it\u2019s generally in schools that people go to vote, and there are certain laws pertaining to the schools. So, for example, police shouldn\u2019t have weapons with them if they\u2019re actually inside the polling booth, like the room that people are voting in. And last year, there was a proper booth inside the polling stations that did afford people a bit more privacy, but I didn\u2019t personally see that at this one, but we were in quite a remote village in \u015e\u00eernak province, and it was called Beyt\u00fc\u015f\u015febap in Turkish, or Ilk\u00ea in Kurdish. And yeah, there wasn\u2019t actually really any privacy, to be honest, in the rooms, but people will make their vote, and there\u2019s a sort of desk that people from each party \u2013 so DEM Party, AK Party, CHP \u2013 they all also sit in the room as well, and they\u2019re kind of responsible for overseeing the process. So, there\u2019s a bit of a collective management of the day, and there\u2019s quite a lot of people from each political party there as well, and also outside the schools, and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll get into this more later. It does depend on the region, so what we saw in Ilk\u00ea or Beyt\u00fc\u015f\u015febap is, there\u2019s the Jandarma outside the schools, which is like militarised police, and there\u2019s also plainclothes police, and also uniformed, but there\u2019s the militarised and armored vehicles outside.<\/p>\n

So, did you get a sense that there was pressure on voters?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, this is what we asked people, actually, who were there, and they did tell us that they did feel quite a bit of pressure, and I think that also, one thing to keep in mind is that, actually, there\u2019s a normalisation of the militarisation of the region, because there\u2019s checkpoints, there\u2019s military checkpoints when you move inside or outside of the cities in Kurdistan region. You can see the Jandarma (Gendarmerie), or the military \u2013 there\u2019s military bases all over the place, inside cities, etc. So, I think that there is a desensitisation, actually, as well; but of course, it does also create the psychological pressure, and for example, there was big families from the AK Party outside in the school grounds that we saw ourselves, and it was like an extended family. And people were also telling us this is also a type of psychological pressure, and they also felt intimidated. And it was also reported that \u2013 not where we were, but at another location \u2013 that some of the police did have weapons with them inside the schools, as well.<\/p>\n

And anyway, they\u2019re allowed weapons just outside the schools.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, they\u2019re allowed weapons outside of the schools, including the military vehicles themselves, which were literally parked right outside the gates, literally right opposite the entrance to the schools, multiple ones, actually. And also, one thing that we saw too is a military helicopter actually landing directly next to the school, which we were told was bringing soldiers in from \u015eirnak, like central, the actual city. And then, you know, we were in quite a remote area up the mountains, and we went to the first school, and then we went to two others, and then we were told, oh, go back to the first school, because now a lot of soldiers have just come. And you know, in the region, it\u2019s occupied militarily, so there are soldiers around, but people know who are the local soldiers. You know, there\u2019s not thousands and thousands of soldiers in each place, usually. And when we went back to the first school, there was this long line of soldiers in plain clothes who were waiting to vote, and it was a very, very tense atmosphere, and we basically were quite abruptly asked to leave.<\/p>\n

They wouldn\u2019t actually let us be present inside the polling station on that occasion. And yeah, we saw the helicopter, because it wasn\u2019t there when we first arrived, and then when we went to the schools, and then it had arrived, and then it left when we were there.<\/p>\n

And were people able to see the voters\u2019 lists there? Were all these soldiers\u2019 names on the voters\u2019 lists?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, one of our friends who was with us \u2013 one of our colleagues who was with us, who was also doing the observations, she has a press card, she\u2019s a journalist, she was allowed to look, but we were not allowed, and we were barred from looking at the lists. But there is many, many areas that people have had more access to the lists, and \u015eirnak is one of them, \u015eirnak Central, that has shown hundreds and hundreds of male names who \u2013 and no women at some addresses at all \u2013 but just hundreds and hundreds of male names, which aren\u2019t normal military bases. And what we were told is that this is basically soldiers coming from outside, who have been sent here by the state, and they are using other people\u2019s addresses to be able \u2013 because you know it\u2019s municipal, so you have to have like a specific local registered address to be able to vote in that district. And yeah, there\u2019s been like a lot of this military people coming and voting.<\/p>\n

Over 6,000 in \u015eirnak, I think.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know at the general election there was a lot of concern about guarding the ballot boxes, and then there were also problems about changes made when the votes were transferred onto the final system. Were either of those issues this time around, or not?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, so this was definitely a thing last time. There was really clear evidence, for example, of votes getting transferred from DEM Party to MHP last time \u2013 well it was Ye\u015fil Sol (Green Left) Party last year, but to MHP \u2013 and then they even ended up being transferred back in the appeals process at points, but I haven\u2019t heard of that myself this time. But also, it\u2019s one of those things that, you know, I think it\u2019s really hard sometimes to catch the ways that manipulation happens. And there\u2019s been really widespread observation amongst the independent observers about this practice with the soldiers, and this is something that \u2013 it\u2019s in specific areas, it doesn\u2019t happen in every single area, obviously \u2013 but it\u2019s, yeah, it\u2019s very difficult to appeal this process. And it didn\u2019t really seem like the ballot box issue was something that was really focused on this year, but they were already aware of the extra people signing up in the municipalities this time, so that has been the main focus this year.<\/p>\n

I heard calls for guarding the ballot boxes, but I didn\u2019t hear of any actual concerns, I think.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t heard of any myself.<\/p>\n

And what immediately afterwards, as the results started coming in \u2013 I mean, before things started happening in Van \u2013 what was the general view of the elections from the DEM Party, because I think you were with people in the party after the elections as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, so I mean, I was in two different places \u2013 in \u015eirnak at first, and then I went back to Amed. And it was really different in both places, because, you know, in \u015eirnak, people were really hurting, because AK Party, for the central area, was elected again. And people were pretty furious, and also worried. People are really worried about their future, and they\u2019re very angry, because they feel it\u2019s a very, very undemocratic process. And straight afterwards, on the same day as the elections, there was an attack on the party office by the police, and they arrested at least a dozen people, I think two dozen people \u2013 so two of the responsibles in DEM Party, and then also quite a few youth as well. And when we were leaving the next day, we heard that the DEM Party members had been released, but a lot of the local young people were still being detained. And this is just like a kind of \u2013 I think that that\u2019s very symbolic, actually, because straight away, there\u2019s repression. And I mean \u2013 you just mentioned Van already, but even when there is a secure vote for the DEM Party, it doesn\u2019t mean that repression doesn\u2019t come. But when people don\u2019t have control of their own municipality, and that really affects, you know, funding, that affects education, that affects all of these different things. It affects also, you know, state propaganda. It affects state control, it affects state access to the border \u2013 for example, going south and east, and \u015eirnak is a really strategic location for the state\u2019s war policies. All of these things are affected in people\u2019s everyday lives. And somebody \u2013 not a DEM Party member, but just like a local person \u2013 was saying to me \u2013 he was saying, I\u2019m really worried about my child\u2019s future. She\u2019s only three years old, but again, and again, and again, this keeps happening. I don\u2019t know what I can do. And then for DEM Party, people were really exhausted, but they were just busy the entire time. They were saying, we\u2019re going to appeal this, we\u2019re not going to stand for this, you know, they have cheated the system. And there was this feeling of loss.<\/p>\n

But there wasn\u2019t much, I\u2019ve seen in Western media. There\u2019s been a lot of dialogue around \u2013 oh, CHP, they\u2019ve done so well; oh, this is such a win for democracy, because AKP have done really badly in this election. But people don\u2019t talk about the Kurdistan region, and don\u2019t see that AK Party can\u2019t even \u2013 they can\u2019t even keep hold of their own seats in the West. But still, they try and coup them, basically, from the Kurdish regions, for their war policies, and for political reasons.<\/p>\n

But when I went back to Amed \u2013 so I didn\u2019t see it myself, because we\u2019re in \u015eirnak, but I did see a lot of videos that showed there was a big celebration. People were really happy, but there was this focus on the other regions, it wasn\u2019t cut off. I think the first day, people were dancing in the streets, big, big celebrations, but by the time we got back, people were just really focused on \u015eirnak, and then also the other regions where AKP had sent soldiers, or just where they\u2019d also just done well, you know. And then, also what happened in Van after. So, yesterday, all day, there was just announcements, protests. The people in DEM Party were incredibly busy, I have to say, from morning until evening, just full-on organising: visiting the family of the martyr, the shaheed [the DEM Party election official who was killed in a polling station dispute]; organising announcements, where police also repressed people, and two people were arrested from that \u2013 nothing like what we\u2019ve seen in the further east regions, where people have been really being attacked viciously by the police, and, you know, there\u2019s a bigger answer, I think, there \u2013 but still, people were then focused on that\u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear what\u2019s going to happen now. I was asking people. I was saying, do you think that\u2026 will come again, is this going to be the policy of the state this time, because it happened so much last municipal election. And people\u2019s answer was just, we just don\u2019t know. We just don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen. It\u2019s just very unclear.<\/p>\n

Which is frightening in itself, of course, the not knowing. So, I don\u2019t know when you had to leave that area. Were you able to see any of the protests about what was happening in Van?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Amed. Yeah.<\/p>\n

Reactions to the removal of the mayor, of the elected mayor in Van \u2013 were you able to see any of the reactions to that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, in Amed, I went to a couple of the announcements and protests, and the thing is, like, even just an announcement, which is what it actually was \u2013 or announcement is maybe not quite the right translation, but a kind of, like a statement against what happened \u2013 like, even these things, when they\u2019re made publicly, are very, very, criminalised by the police. So, maybe in Western Europe you could make a statement saying, oh, the state did this, and it wasn\u2019t good, blah, blah. But, in Bakur [North Kurdistan\/southeast Turkey] you\u2019re surrounded by armed police, armoured vehicles. Lots of people already have criminal cases or have spent a significant time in prison, and these are the kind of things that can certainly get people arrested again and sent to prison. So, there\u2019s quite high stakes, even with just standing up and denouncing \u2026<\/p>\n

And there was one protest outside one of the legal centres, and that was made by DEM Party members, and two of the MPs, so one person was Abbas \u015eahin, and then also P\u0131nar as well. They\u2019re both MPs in Amed region. And then also, directly after that, there was another announcement in a park in Amed, and that was by the Democracy Platform, which is particularly, like a labour platform.<\/p>\n

And there were people from other parties or from\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Vigil
Vigil for forced disappearances<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yeah, I mean, in general, the people who attended, it wasn\u2019t only DEM Party members who were there. It\u2019s just people in the community, basically, people who agree with the fact that what happened in Van was extremely undemocratic and unfair, and it didn\u2019t reflect the will of the people. And the second event, I\u2019m not sure, I would need to find out exactly which groups it was present, actually, and yeah, but there was, like, a kind of mix of people from, like, various groups, and also non-affiliated people as well. Not everyone was specifically a member of a specific organisation who was present. There was, oh, and the Saturday Mothers as well, the mothers of the martyrs, and also of the missing people who had disappeared in the 90s. So, when everyone was going to this court in the first announcement, the first denunciation, some people tried to enter. And they weren\u2019t allowed, of course, they weren\u2019t allowed to go in, but there was this big crowd of people, maybe a couple hundred people, and the mothers who, you know, they were walking as a group, and they have the white veils on their head, they\u2019re very, very distinctive. And they\u2019re really, really, really strong embodiments of the principles of the struggle there, and what people sacrificed, and what people continue to do as well, despite such a deep and painful struggle. They tried to get in, and when they first came, everyone started clapping and applauding, and people were chanting. It was really, really beautiful to see how people reacted to their presence as part of that struggle, and part of the wider statement. And they were also at the second denunciation as well, which was in the park. They didn\u2019t speak at it, but there was \u2013 yeah, like I said, it was kind of a mix of people present, and \u2013 just one second, I\u2019m just gonna check something\u2026 I had a thing where I wrote down the chants that people were making, but I\u2019m just struggling to find it\u2026<\/p>\n

You were looking for the chants that were said at these demonstrations, so do give us some examples.<\/p>\n

Yeah, so, well, one chant that people were chanting is, long live the resistance of Van, so, \u201cBiji Berxwedana Wan\u00ea\u201d, and also, \u201cResistance is Life\u201d, and also, \u201cKurdistan will become a grave for fascism\u201d, and, yeah, I thought it was just a very \u2013 like, every time somebody would make a speech, the young people in the crowd would start leading the chants. Yeah, that was all.<\/p>\n

So, is there anything else you want to add before I let you go and catch your plane?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s really hard to \u2013 I thought there is something that I want to add, but it\u2019s really hard to put into words. And I feel really, like I really wish that I wasn\u2019t leaving now, because the different layers of society that say, and one of the other chants, the translation in English is, \u201cwe will win by resisting\u201d. I think that that is just such a present spirit and energy, and that is something that is really beautiful and inspiring; and yeah, I\u2019m sure that people really will resist. And if it really is the case that the mayor has, again, been reappointed, I think that that really just shows like that chant, that we will win by resisting, is completely true. And whatever happens now, because I think that the democratic process is completely \u2013 it\u2019s not respected in Kurdistan region especially. And I think that we need to stop invisiblising the politics there, when we talk about Turkey as a whole, and the democratic process in Turkey as a whole, and, you know, not see CHP as this kind of \u2013 oh great, everything\u2019s answered now, blah, blah, blah. I think that, yeah, the struggle is really alive, and we also need to find ways to support it, that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n

Thank you, and bring that spirit of struggle back to Scotland with you. Thanks very much.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you for having me.<\/p>\n

Sarah Glynn is an activist from Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan who writes for Medya News.<\/em><\/p>\n

For a full report of the local election results and the successful resistance movement to the annulment and subsequent reinstatement of the successful DEM candidate in the municipality of Van,\u00a0 see Sarah Glynn’s article\u00a0 ‘Resistance Works!<\/strong>‘ https:\/\/medyanews.net\/resistance-works-a-weekly-news-review\/<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

Interview originally published by Medya News:\u00a0 https:\/\/medyanews.net\/from-a-polling-station-in-the-sirnak-mountains-an-interview-with-hazel-an-election-observer-from-scotland\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Note by Ecosocialist.scot: [1] DEM Party<\/strong> –\u00a0 Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party<\/strong> is a pro-Kurdish political party in the Turkish state. It is the legal successor of the Green Left Party (Yesil Sol) and with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) handing over its work to this party in 2023, it has become the latest iteration of Kurdish interests in Turkey.\u00a0 It won 10 provinces and 2.6 million votes (5.7%), the fourth highest vote in the elections of 31 March.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo: DEM Party Election Rally, Medya News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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