Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RNISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
wanted to participate provided certain conditions
were met while there were those
who wanted to enter the elections without
conditions. According to insiders the
deputies who wanted the party to take part
in the elections were not too insistent.
The DEP officials were shaken when
news reached the party assembly that the
two sons of Mehmet Teke~, a mayoral candidate
of the party from Diyarbalar who was
attending the Ankara meetings, had been
slain.
This was nothing out of the ordinary.
Especially in the past few months even
potential DEP candidates had been systematically
harassed. The attacks against DEP
offices and buildings reached a climax with
the recent bomb attack a~ainst the party
headquarters in Ankara which left one person
dead and several others wounded. The
DEP headquarters was so badly damaged
that the party had to find another hall to
convene Its meeting. The decision by DEP
to withdraw from the local elections also
ineludes elements Qf a boycott. While the
p~ said it is not participating in the polls
It did not tell its grassroots that they were
free to vote for any party they wish. As a
matter of fact Diele told reporters at a press
conference "our members will not vote for
the parties of the system."
Diele told a packed press conference that
the State forces had ,\'ressured DEP to enter
"unjust" and "unfair elections. He recalled
that while the name
"People's Labor Party
of the party was
- HEP' and later
under the banner of DEP about 70 party
members had suffered armed attacK. He
elaimed DEP was crippled because of State
pressures.
He said that just because they did not
approve of State policies based on violence
he and other DEP members had been subjected
to all kinds of accusations and -ther.
had even been branded as "traitors. '
Recently Prime Minister Tansu Ciller and
Interior Minister Nahit Mente~e called Dicle
a "traitor" after the DEP chlÙrman claimed a
recent Kurdish terrorist bomb attack in an
Istanbul train station that killed five military
cadets was "part of a war" and refused to
condemn the ôlast. Diele elaimed the party
attaches great importance to the local polls
but said the upcoming elections will be
unfair and illegItimate.
DEP is expected to inform the Supreme
Election Board (YSK) of its decision today.
Is it a boycott?
The decision to quit the elections caused
quite a stir in the DEP. The debate centered
on whether the decision was a "withdrawal"
or a "boycott." The DEP officials took p,ains
trying to explain that this was nota' boycott"
but despite this the fact that they insisted
that their supporters would not vote for
other parties meant the party was actually
walking out and asking people not to participate
in the election.
The decision did not come easy. It took
the DEP officials and deputies three days to
debate this issue.
The public anger against the DEP because
of DicIe's statements as well as the bomb
attacks against the party on one hand and
the general belief tliat the elections cannot
be held in a healthy environment in
Southeastern Turkey strengthened the hand
of Dicle and his supporters who wanted a
boycott.
However, there were quite a few people
at the DEP party assembly meeting who felt
Dicle had made too many mistakes, recently
topped by his refusal to condemn the attack
at the train station in Istanbul. The statements
that he applauded military deserters
and draft dodgers also caused deep concern
among the DEP officials. Yet those who
opposed Diele, especially the deputies who
were so critical of him, did not raise their
yoices too much at the latest party meetings.
Observers believe the withdrawal of DEP
from the polls' means the State is now left to
confront the PKK in Southeastern Turkey.
The local elections have a special significance
for the Kurdish issue.
Both the Turkish StAte and "the PKK will
try to present the election outcome as
approval for their policies by the people of
the region. If the participation rate IS low the
PKK will claim credit and say' the people
showed their support for the nulitant group.
The State on the other hand will encourage a
high turnout in Southeastern Turkey at the
polls.
The importance the PKK and the State
attaches to the local elections in the
S.outh.east will. no doubt heighten ~he tensions
in the regIOn.
'
The PKK has already declared it is banning
the political actiVities of parties in the
area. That means the candidates of various
parties are tar&ets for the terrorists. That is
one reason wtilch will prompt many candidates
to withdraw in the days to come,
locals say.
Observers point out that the local officials
of the True Path Party (DYP), the Social
Demo~rat People's Party (SHP), the
Republican People's Party (CHP) and other
parties in the southeasternjrovince of Siirt
visited the governor an local military
authoritjes and told them that the safety of
their candi.dates would be jeopardized if the
~tate pressures against the DEP people continued.
The PKK stand
What will the PKK do now? Observers
say it is impossible to say what the PKK
stand will be, The militant group has not
~ade any statement regarding the local electIOns.
What is certain, however, is the fact that
the terrorists have targeted all candidates in
the region. That means the PKK could now
try to force other parties to withdraw from
the polls in the area.
.. According to PKK leader, Abdullah
Ocalan, the PKK may approve certain candidates
itself and encourage them to participate
in the polls. The PKK may do this in
the regions It feels it is dominant, observers
say.
turkish daily news -February 26, 1994
Democracy Party boycotts local polls
DEP Chairman Diele.' This was not a fair race, we are withdrawing
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- Turkey's Kurdish-based
Democracy Party (DEP) decided on Friday to
withdraw from the upcoming March 27 local
elections but continue its political activities
under the current chairmanship of Hatip Diele.
The withdrawal decision, taken under pressure
from about 90 percent of the DEP cadres.
comes during an intensified campaign by security
forces to detain DEP activists and mayoral
candidates in the Southeast. A total of 36 executives
attended the party assembly meeting
where the decision was taken. DEP chairman
Hatip Dicle told a press conference Friday
.afternoon that the decision was taken after a
majority at the assembly agreed that if the
party participated in the elections. this would
only be window-dressing. He stressed that
under pressure from special. security teams.
village guards and police, the party had been
harassed and crippled.
"In order not to be party to policies aiming
at destroying the free will of our people
through anti-democratic practices, we have
decided with a great maJority to withdraw
from this unjust race," Dicfe saiâ.
He added, however, that the decision should .
not be regarded as a "boycott of the elections"
since no such statement had been issued to the
DEP electorate. "But, our electorate will not
vote for establishment parties," he said.
Observers said thaI by us mg the expression
"withdrawal," the DEP was clearly trying to
soften the impact of its "boycott."
Dicle noted that the party gave importance
to the elections but did not believe its participation
in the local polls would serve democracy.
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