People's Democracy Party ( tr, Halkın Demokrasi Partisi, HADEP) was a Kurdish political party in Turkey.

Murat Bozlak Murat Bozlak, (30 December 1952, Şereflikoçhisar–4 January 2015) was a Kurdish politician active in several political parties. He was the president of the People's Democracy Party (HADEP) and a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey ...

founded the party on 11 May 1994. The party disbanded in 2003.

History

Bozlak's first chairmanship

Party founder and attorney Murat Bozlak was the party's first chairman, serving between 1994 and 1999. During the campaign for the parliamentary elections of 1995, the political environment was hostile to HADEP and the

Welfare Party The Welfare Party ( tr, Refah Partisi, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and National ...

(RP). HADEP was permitted to compete to limit the influence of the RP. After the elections, allegations of fraud emerged because a HADEP candidate allegedly did not receive any votes in his home village, which included his wife. At the party congress in June 1996, masked men dropped the

Turkish flag The national flag of Turkey, officially the Turkish flag ( tr, Türk bayrağı), is a red flag featuring a white star and crescent. The flag is often called "the red flag" (), and is referred to as "the red banner" () in the Turkish national a ...

and raised the PKK flag. As a result, all HADEP members present at the congress were arrested. The party came under pressure when Italy refused to extradite

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish and Kurdish for "uncle"), is a political prisoner and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from ...

to Turkey. Dozens of party members were detained and accused of having supported a country-wide

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

to protest the Turkish role in the Kurdish Turkish conflict.

Demir's chairmanship

Bozlak was succeeded by Ahmet Turan Demir, who served as party chairman from September 1998 to November 1999. In January 1999, 41 of the detained HADEP members were released, but four remained in custody. The same month, a state prosecutor demanded the party's closure before the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

, alleging that party had organizational ties with the PKK.Güney (2002), p. 126 (and note 19 on p.136) In February 1999,

was captured in Kenya and imprisoned on Imrali, hundreds of party members were also detained. After the Turkish press reported that Öcalan said PKK named the party's candidates, the state prosecutor demanded the party's exclusion from the General Elections of 1999. The party was not excluded nor banned. However, in the electoral campaign for general and local elections of April 1999, the party faced opposition from the Turkish authorities. The government prohibited the party's Diyarbakır rally, planned for the week before the elections, and detained thousands of people. At the time, the party hoped to become an important factor in Turkish politics. Despite the government's suppression, the party was successful in the local elections of April 1999 and won 37 mayorships, including

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortres ...

. In August 1999, President

Süleyman Demirel Süleyman Sami Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously served as the Prime Minister of Turkey seven times betwee ...

welcomed seven of the HADEP mayors in Ankara, helping to alleviate the legal situation for the Kurdish politicians. In 1999, HADEP became the first party in the history of Turkish politics to introduced a femail quota of 25%.

Bozlak's second chairmanship

Bozlak had a second term as party chair, serving until the party dissolved in 2003. HADEP politicians and supporters were detained prior to a 1 September 2001 event for World Peace Day. HADEP was repeatedly accused of supporting terror. In 2002, it received support from

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisation ...

(SI) which demanded that Turkey provide a framework for a fair pluralistic democracy. However, the party was banned by the

on 13 March 2003 because it allegedly supported the PKK. The courts leading judge,

Mustafa Bumin Mustafa Bumin (born 26 June 1940 in Mucur, Kırşehir Province) is a former Turkish judge. He was president of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from May 31, 2000 until June 24, 2005. Under his presidency of the Constitutional court the People ...

, stated that the party was a threat to the indivisibility of the Turkish Republic. As a result, 46 politicians from the HADEP were banned from politics for five years.

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

, the holder of the

EU presidency The official title President of the European Union (or President of Europe) does not exist, but there are a number of presidents of European Union institutions, including: * the President of the European Council (since 1 December 2019, Charles ...

at the time, issued a statement criticizing the events.

Dissolution

The party was succeeded by the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP), which was joined by 35 mayors of the former HADEP on the 26 March 2003. In 2010, the party's forced dissolution was unanimously found to be contrary to Article 11 (Freedom of Association) of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...

by the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

(ECHR).Judgment in case 28003/03
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References

Bibliography

* * *McDowall, David. (2003) ''A Modern History of the Kurds'' (London: I.B. Tauris, 2003), p. 463. {{Authority control Defunct Kurdish parties in Turkey European Court of Human Rights cases involving Turkey Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights Political parties established in 1994 Banned Kurdish parties in Turkey Banned socialist parties 1994 establishments in Turkey Political parties disestablished in 2003 2003 disestablishments in Turkey Kurdish nationalism in Turkey