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Turkish Police Arrest Pro-Kurdish HDP Officials

Turkish police walk in front of the Metropolitan Municipality headquarters in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Reuters file photo
Turkish police walk in front of the Metropolitan Municipality headquarters in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Reuters file photo
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Turkish Police Arrest Pro-Kurdish HDP Officials

Turkish police walk in front of the Metropolitan Municipality headquarters in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Reuters file photo
Turkish police walk in front of the Metropolitan Municipality headquarters in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Reuters file photo

Turkish police detained three district heads of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and seven others in Istanbul on Friday over alleged links to militants, police said, two days after a court case began over banning the party.

Separately, Turkey’s Human Rights Association (IHD) co-chairman Ozturk Turkdogan was arrested by police at his home, IHD said, prompting human rights groups to call for his release. Turkdogan was then released on Friday evening, the association said.

A prosecutor filed a case with the Constitutional Court on Wednesday demanding a ban on the HDP, the culmination of a years-long crackdown against parliament’s third-largest party. The HDP called it a “political coup”.

State-owned Anadolu news agency said on Friday that police arrested the 10 people over alleged links to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants - deemed a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. Prosecutors have ordered 12 arrested in total, including former provincial heads of the HDP, it said.

Media reports said Turkdogan was detained as part of those raids. Human Rights Watch Turkey director Emma Sinclair-Webb called for his immediate release on Twitter, addressing the country’s foreign and justice ministers.

“In Brussels you talk about dialogue with civil society but the reality at home is dawn raids and arrest of human rights defenders,” she said.

European Council President Charles Michel is scheduled to hold a video conference with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen on Friday. EU leaders are then due to discuss strained ties with Turkey at a summit next week.

Police in Istanbul staged raids in four areas and detained two top HDP officials in the district of Kagithane as well as its Besiktas district head among 15 suspects sought, the city’s police headquarters said.

Erdogan unveiled a “human rights action plan” this month, saying Ankara would strengthen the right to a fair trial and the right of freedom of expression. Critics say the plan fails to tackle an erosion of human rights in the country, however

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Netanyahu's Popularity Further Declines

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara (File/Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara (File/Reuters)
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Netanyahu's Popularity Further Declines

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara (File/Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara (File/Reuters)

The coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost three seats it earned during the past three weeks, including two seats earned last week and one seat this week, according to this week’s Maariv poll.
In return, the Israeli opposition made a slight advancement, which indicates that if elections were to be held today, Netanyahu is far from securing the needed seats to form a government.
The Religious Zionist Party, New Hope-United Right led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich remained below the electoral threshold of 3.25%, scoring only 1.6%.
After survey respondents were asked for whom they would vote if new Knesset elections were held today, Netanyahu’s Likud and the rest of the ruling coalition parties emerged with a combined 48 seats, one fewer than last week. The coalition has 64 seats and therefore needs at least 13 more seats to form a government.
In return, the opposition earned 72 seats, including 10 for Arab parties.
The poll also revealed that a party led by Naftali Bennett has weakened by one seat this week, now standing at 24, still three more seats ahead of Likud's 21.
The opposition bloc lost one seat this week but still retained a majority of 65 seats, without the Arab parties, which gained one seat this week.
In this scenario, the government of Netanyahu will definitely not remain in power.
The polling, published by Maariv every Friday, is done by “Lazar Research” and conducted in collaboration with Panel4All.
After survey respondents were asked for whom they would vote if new Knesset elections were held today, Netanyahu’s Likud emerged with 23 seats (lost one third of its current 32 seats), National Unity, 20 (currently 8), Yesh Atid, 16 (currently 24), Yisrael Beiteinu, 15 (currently 6), The Democrats, 11 (currently four), Shas, 10 (currently 10), Otzma Yehudit, 8 (currently 6), United Torah Judaism, 7 (currently 7), Hadash-Ta’al, 6 (6), and Ra’am 4.
In this scenario, Netanyahu's coalition would gain 48 seats, and the opposition bloc would gain 72 seats, including 10 seats for Arab parties.
Meanwhile, a majority of the Israeli public (52%) opposes the judicial reform being reintroduced by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, 35% support it, and 13% are undecided.
Politically, most coalition voters (72%) support the reform, while opposition voters (85%) are strongly opposed to it.