Kurdish Human Rights Project: This is the legacy website of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, containing reports and news pertaining to human rights issues in the Kurdish Regions for 20 years. |
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| KHRP Publishes Updated Paper on Targeting of Political Parties in Run-Up to Elections in Turkey |
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With local elections set to take place in Turkey later this week, KHRP today published an updated version of its briefing paper, Protecting Politicians or Protecting Democracy? The paper explores the ways in which the mechanisms available in Turkey for the lifting of parliamentary immunity and the shutting down of political parties facilitate the targeting of democratically elected politicians by unelected officials whose conception of what is best for the country is grounded in a narrow, secular and ethnically exclusive form of nationalism. Originally published in July last year, just prior to the decision of the Constitutional Court on moves to shut down the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP), the paper features a detailed exploration of this case and ongoing parallel proceedings against the pro-Kurdish Demokratik Toplum Partisi (Democratic Society Party, DTP). It also includes analysis of the concept of parliamentary immunity and its application in different parts of the world, the historical context of the cases against the DTP and AKP, and the implications of these cases for democracy and human rights in Turkey. The updated version of the paper, which covers ongoing moves against members of parliament and political parties in recent months, can be downloaded from the KHRP website here.
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