Voter suppression remains blatant in Turkish Kurdistan

Two women joined from Scotland and were sent to different areas where the DEM Party – the ­left-leaning pro-Kurdish parliamentary group – suspected anti-democratic practices were most likely to occur.

These ­human rights observations are common practice in an area that has been at war for more than 40 years, with punishing policies ­inflicted by the state.

In 2019, nearly all elected mayors of the DEM Party’s former ­incarnation, the HDP, were instantly deposed by the ruling AKP, and replaced with government-appointed trustees.

We travelled by night to Şırnak, an area well known for a highly ­politicised society and strong support for Kurdish independence.

State military had destroyed more than 70% of the city’s buildings in 2015-16 during bombings, military curfews and the brutal repression of the Kurdish movement, leading to the majority of residents being ­displaced.

In the morning, we travelled to Uludere, and then to an even more remote town – Beytüşşebap – nestled between snow-topped mountains.

Beytüşşebap had been the site of the first Kurdish uprising against the new Turkish Republic’s colonial policies towards Kurds, including the criminalisation of the Kurdish ­language and culture 100 years ago.

The main road between the two towns was blocked due to snowfall, so we took a meandering route in an old minibus.

A local person rode with us, and pointed to the huge mountains: “There was a traditional annual sheep shearing festival here – ­hundreds of thousands of people would travel to the plateau. They would use the wool for everything – stuffing mattresses, chairs, making clothes and rugs.

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“It was a huge local celebration, something that has happened for ­generations. But the state forbade it over the last few years – no-one is ­allowed to travel into those parts of the mountains now.”

Beytüşşebap had three schools used as polling stations. Outside the first school were armoured vehicles of the Jandarma, the militarised police. They stood, armed, opposite the entrance. The atmosphere was tense.

The local election workers told us that hundreds of soldiers had been ­transferred to the voter lists. Speaking to local people outside the other two polling stations, we were told how the state employed many local young men as “village guards” – an infamous position in the rural Kurdish areas – where their main role is to act as armed deterrents to both civil members of the ­Kurdish freedom movement and armed ­guerillas.

“The state has applied a lot of ­pressure on people here for a very, very long time,” one woman told us. We were told to return to the first school, as more people from outside had arrived to vote. A helicopter had landed on a building next door. They were distinctive plain-clothed ­military personnel.

When we returned to Şırnak city centre, the other election observers told us that they saw hundreds of plain-clothed soldiers in the queues for polling stations. Local residents were furious.

After the voting ended, those who denounced the practice were ­dispersed with tear gas. They showed us videos of queues of hundreds of men.

“They’re not local here. We always expect some soldiers, of course – but they sent thousands.”

The DEM Party places the official number of transferred voters at more than 6000 in Şırnak’s centre.

Throughout the evening in Şırnak, cars drove past, with men making Grey Wolf signs with their hands out of the windows – a distinctive ­symbol that refers to an ultra-nationalist Turkish paramilitary group.

The police attacked the DEM Party office two hours after we left, and arrested around 25 people. most of them local youth, and two officials.

It is reasonable to wonder why so much effort would be made to secure regions in the south east, when the ruling AKP lost so many of its seats across the entire country.

The answer from many people has been “to ensure access to territory for war”. The border region from Şırnak city to Uludere, Beytüşşebap, and then across to Hakkâri Province’s ­Çukurca and Şemdinli – all of which are now under AKP control – are carved by mountains, or lay against the borders of north and eastern Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan – regions that are targets for frequent drone strikes and ­military incursions.

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The mountains across these ­regions have been inhabited by Kurdish ­guerilla for decades and are ­significant areas of resistance. The border is a strategic area for moving military personnel, equipment and money between the Iraqi Kurdish ­region and Turkish state-held areas.

Abdullah Zeydan was elected mayor of Van with 55% of the votes. He was told by the regional electoral commission he must step down, and the AKP would appoint the next in line – who received 27% of the votes.

This, alongside the transfer of ­thousands of voters into Kurdish areas, led to widespread protests. In Van and Hakkâri, police cracked down, with hundreds of arrests.

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In Diyarbakır, members of ­parliament, trade unionists, and civil society organisations denounced the political coup in announcements surrounded by hundreds of police and armoured vehicles.

A day later, Zeydan’s position was reinstated – the appeal process by the Supreme Election Council had been accepted.

At the protests, we heard the phrase “we will win by resisting” and “Kurdistan will become a grave for fascism” chanted.

Compared to dialogue in the west of Turkey and in Europe – which ­joyfully notes the secular and ­republican CHP’s major gains against Erdogan’s AKP as a win for democracy – more than 15 million people from the south east of the country must fiercely ­defend every success and resist every blow.

Under occupation, the struggle for a democratic ­process and an end to the marginalisation of Kurdish ­ politics continues.