newspaper (AI 19 Aug. 2016). The newspaper’s lawyer told Amnesty International that police officers damaged
computers and other property and ill-treated journalists as they were being detained (ibid.).
The Research Associate at the University of Coventry stated that at least 36 proKurd journalists have
been arrested since the attempted coup (17 Jan. 2017). Corroborating information could not be found among
the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
2.2 Kurdish Party Members and Elected Representatives
Sources report that in November 2016, a number of HDP members of Parliament were arrested and
detained for terrorism (European Commission 9 Nov. 2016, 28; EuroMed Rights 7 Nov. 2016). Sources indicate
that 11 HDP members of Parliament were put in detention (associate professor 16 Jan. 2017; Freedom House
4 Nov. 2016).
The Associate Professor at the University of Binghamton stated that hundreds of HDP members were put
in prison and that they were all awaiting their court date (16 Jan. 2017). In addition, according to an article
published by Mediapart, a [translation] “a digital, independent and participatory newspaper” (Mediapart, n.d.),
“thousands of [HDP] militants and supporters are currently in custody or incarcerated” (12 Dec. 2016, 3).
According to Amnesty International, “investigations have been initiated against 54 out of 59 deputies of the
HDP” (4 Nov. 2016).
The Research Associate at the University of Coventry stated that the security of Kurdish politicians and
activists is in jeopardy because incidents, such as the raids of HDP offices in the cities of Osmaniye, Malatya
and Iskenderun, were on the rise after the attempted coup (17 Jan. 2017). Corroborating information could
not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this
Response.
2.3 South-East Turkey
Sources report that under the state of emergency imposed after the attempted coup in September 2016,
Turkish authorities replaced 24 mayors, mostly in the country’s south-east, by civil administrators on suspicion
of ties to the PKK (Al Jazeera 12 Sept. 2016; AA 11 Sept. 2016). Sources indicate that the mayors with ties to
the HDP were mainly concerned by this decision (BBC, 11 Sept. 2016; Radio Free Europe, 11 Sept. 2016).
According to Hürriyet Daily News, a newspaper based in Turkey (Hürriyet Daily News, n.d.), the police
dispersed crowds that were demonstrating against the “seizure of power” in a number of districts and
provinces in the east and south-east (ibid. 11 Sept. 2016). The same source indicates that police fired tear gas
and water cannons to disperse demonstrators in Batman (ibid.).
According to the European Commission’s 2016 report, in the aftermath of the attempted coup, a large
number of Kurdish teachers were suspended over their alleged links to terrorism (9 Nov. 2016, 29).
Furthermore, according to an article published in the Guardian, 11,500 teachers suspected of having links to
the PKK were suspended in September 2016 (19 Sept. 2016). The Research Associate at the University of
Coventry writes that the teachers suspended by the Ministry of Education were in the Kurdish region
(17 Jan. 2017). Sources report that these suspensions involved teachers who took part in a one-day strike to
call for peace in the region and who have ties to a union (Turkish Human Rights Association, 30 Oct. 2016; Al-
Monitor, 12 Sept. 2016). Al-Monitor, a website that features reporting and analysis by journalists and experts
from the Middle East (Al-Monitor, n.d.), states that the leftist union, Egitim Sen, is popular among Kurds (ibid.,
12 Sept. 2016).
Amnesty International reports that under the state of emergency, NGOs were shuttered, including the
Sarmasik association, [AI English version] “which provides food aid and education services to 32,000 people in
Diyarbakir (southeast Turkey), including people forcibly displaced by the state” (16 Nov. 2017). Similarly, Al-
Monitor indicates that 46 of the associations closed, including the Sarmasik association, were located in
Diyarbakir, “the largest city in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast” (Al-Monitor, 6 Dec. 2016). The same
source states that the associations that were shut down include diverse groups, such as neighbourhood
associations, a solidarity association, the Kurdish Language Research Association and the Kurdish Writers’
Association, on suspicion of ties to the PKK (ibid.).
Sources indicate that in October 2016 a school offering education in Kurdish was closed in the city of
Diyarbakir, in addition to four other Kurdish schools in the region. (The New Arab 27 Dec. 2016; Institut kurde
de Paris 22 Dec. 2016).
According to the Research Associate at the University of Coventry, the change in the treatment of Kurds
since the attempted coup in 2016 can also be seen in the raids that took place in the cities of Van and Bingöl
in the south-east (17 Jan. 2017). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted
by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
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