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

Murat Bozlak Murat Bozlak, (30 December 1952 – 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 for the Peoples' ...

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 (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 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 1948 or 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"), is a founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998. He ...

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 where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

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 ru ...

, 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 Fortress, it is ...

. In August 1999, President

Süleyman Demirel Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously serv ...

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 female 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, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

(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, 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, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, the holder of the EU presidency 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 a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

by the

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

(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 HEP tradition