What Turkey’s Elections Can Teach Us about Defending Democracy

them from Kurdish migrants leaving Turkey. Almost every time I'm at the border. I meet people and they tell me. Can you explain sort of the context of these elections, the concerns going into them.

pro Kurdish political movement also underperformed as well. They did not win as many seats or as many votes as they usually do, and a lot of that was attributed to the very complex Alliance decisions they made, choosing not to run their own presidential candidate and instead ask their voters to vote for the CHP, which is the main opposition party that has a history of being very nationalist and violent and exclusionary towards Kurds. Though things have changed

in these past twenty years, voters didn't understand that. A lot of voters weren't happy with that, and then there were some local level issues with selections of candidates as well, and then of course the climate of very severe political repression, and had the Opposition one there was a lot of hope that it would have started to change things on

the Kurdish issue in Turkey. You know, from what I'd been hearing from people, there were prospects of political prisoners being released of contacts between the state and of Dela Ojealon being re established, which could have been the opening of a new peace process. If you follow this, you know the PKK declared a ceasefire prior to the elections.

They initially said that it was following the earthquake in order to not allow the conflict to intervene with humanitarian efforts, but they did very explicitly extend it through the elections, and the discussions around that that I heard in Iraqi, Kurdistan, in Northeast Syria and in Europe made it very clear that that was an opening to hopefully be able to leverage it into a larger piece process were there to be a political change. But that change didn't happends. The

situation did not improve. Ardwan continued his crackdown and his military aggression against Kurds in Iraq and Syria, and for democracy in Turkey, for the condition of the opposition, for the condition of all the groups oppressed under Aerowan's regime, whether that's women, whether that's workers, whether that's the earthquake victims that have been left behind. Things didn't get better.

So these elections were an opportunity for people to register their disapproval in a way that I think many might have wished that they could have a year ago, and that disapproval was registered for the first time. Air Dowan's party, the Justice and Development Party or the AKP, was not the first place party in Turkey. The main opposition CHP actually overtook them the pro Kurdish People's Equality and Democracy Party or the DEM Party, which used to be the HDP.

So if I call it the HDP, I'm sorry. Went Actually there was a el were much more in line with what they had done in the past. They performed, you know, right on standard. They actually won more municipalities than they did in twenty nineteen, and there was a lot of enthusiasm for change among Kurds, among supporters of the opposition, you know, among people who I think had wanted to see things start to move in a more

democratic direction last year. So that was a very big deal for that reason, and it also shows the fact that Airedwan is not necessarily as invincible in twenty twenty eight as people feared he would be.

orders from Erdowan in Ankarab. So this was on an unfair playing field for the Kurdish political movement to begin with, very unfair playing field for the main opposition as well. Atkreme Mamuluh's, the very popular mayor of Istanbul, who just won reelection by a very large margin, as a criminal case against him that could have him banned from politics. So this was very difficult in the Kurdish regions. There

were many many irregularities on election day. One that a lot of people were discussing were these so called mobile voters, where the government actually sent members of the security forces, predominantly from Western Turkey into Kurdish cities to vote in

large groups for the ruling AKP. You know, there's a lot of videos taken by local media, local politicians and activists challenging these people, asking them where they're from, and then videos of them all crowding into the airports and back on their buses flying back to Western Turkey the next day, so you know, they're not even making a pretense of being local voters that shifted the results in some districts in Schernock, which is a very heavily militarized

province where the government bases a lot of its military campaigns, you know, into the occupied regions of Iraq and Syria from the pro Kurdish political movement alleges that these voters shifted the outcome. So you had that kind of outright attempts at theft in addition to the context of repression.

And then most brazenly, just one day after the election, the local provincial election board denied a mandate of victory, you know, essentially the documents certifying that a candidate has won the elections and will be allowed to assume office to the pro Kurdish candidate Bill A. Zaidon in the province of Vaughan, which is a heavily Kurdish province, where the dem Party won all fourteen district municipalities and the

metropolitan municipality as well. So the local election authority essentially said, no, you can't run. There's been a last minute legal finding that you're unfit to run for office, as there always is, right, And then they tried to give the municipality to the candidate from Erdowon's party, the AKP, who got less than half of the number of votes.

and that violent military campaign in the cities. But last night they were out in full force, and very notably, they weren't alone. There were protests in Istanbul and solidarity as well, you know, carried out by Kurds living there, but also by leftist parties, by feminists, by Kurdish religious organizations, by all the segments of civil society that have sort of oriented around the pro Kurdish political movement. And there was also a pretty significant reaction from the main opposition CHP,

which is not known for radicalism. You had the CHP party leader Osgara Ozel saying that it was illegitimate for the government to deny a candidate a mandate, and then you had Imamulu in Istanbul also criticizing the decision, saying it was illegitimate and calling on the government to respect the popular will. So at the same time you had this outcry across the Turkish political spectrum. You had tens

of thousands of people out protesting, braving police violence. You know, there were armed pro government vigilantes caught on video shooting into crowds. There was very, very harrowing videos of beatings and torture of civilians. Journalists were attacked and prevented from covering the protests. This was a very difficult situation to watch, and a lot of people that I was speaking to were worrying about a return to the level of violence

that was seen in twenty fifteen and twenty sixteen. Were things to escalate, but you know, sometimes there's good news

in Turkey and Kurdistan. Not always, but sometimes, you know, in Turkish you'd say d nae Kazlanachaz will win by resisting, and in Kurdish you'd say berghludan Jiana, resistance is life and that sort of Those are very famous protest slogans that proved really accurate last night, because today Turkey's Supreme Electoral Council actually reversed the attempt to give the election to the losing pro government candidate and gave the Dun party candidate his mandate back. So they've said that he

will be allowed to assume office. And I think they looked at this huge street protest. They looked at this opposition coming from not only the pro Kurdish political movement but many different political forces in Turkey, and the state decided to back down. They decided not to pick this fight now. And you know, that's not to say that voter suppression in other provinces wasn't an issue. That's not to say that there are still outcomes that are being contested.

You know, the government's doing a lot of very unfair things right now to try to take districts from the CHP and from the pro Kurdish political movement. But what this does show is that when people insist on a democratic outcome, and when they are willing to stand up for it in large numbers and face the consequences the difficulty of doing that, that even regimes like air dons, these very you know, autocratic, far right governments have a

point at which they will back down. And I think that that display of resistance and solidarity getting a government like that to back down is something that can be very hopeful for people around the world.

Assyria and into Iraqi Curtistan Curdistan Autonomous Region. Can you explain that there's a lot of like I think Turkey is pretty clearly like telegraphed plants for increased military activity in that region. So can you explain, like what's what's being proposed and what that means.

the government's abandonment of the peace process itself. Then in twenty nineteen after the local elections where the government lost control of Istanbul and Ancara for the first time. That was very quickly followed with the appointment of state trustees to Kurdish municipalities and then the invasion of North and East Syria following Ardwan's agreement with Donald Trump about that. And so this does look like the kind of context in which he has lashed out against Kurds in Iraq

and Syria before. And given these threats that you mentioned that he has been making, the diplomatic traffic between Turkey and Iraq, Turkey and Iran, Turkey and the US and Europe, they do appear to be preparing for something now. I was just on the ground in North and East Syria and in Iraqi Kurdistan, and I heard from many people that they're concerned the threats that the government has been making a peur to suggest that they might try to

go for a geographically larger military operation this time. There's a chance that instead of only conducting their typical spring offensive into Iraqi Kurdistan, which usually gets them nowhere, they might also attempt to invade northern Syria as well. Of course, that's very internationally contingent. They would need a green light from the Americans and from the Russians to be able to violate those ceasefires and go in there. But the

threat's very real. It's something that people are very concerned about on the ground, and I think that it's worth paying attention to, and particularly for those of US and countries that are allied with the Turkish government making noise about, you know, opposing trying to get onto the agenda, so that permission is not given here and they're not incentivized to do this.

But this is one of those like maybe right to your rep that doesn't a lot of shit isn't going to get changed with an email to your elected officials, but especially like certain officials who are on you know, foreign relations to committees or something, as well as as like other forms of political activism could help here, right, like, especially in an election year like that, that's a way to stop that.

NATO countries that are allied with Turkey. There's a lot of leverage and you know, pushing to end that military support is something that could be done right now, that could be very important. And really, you know, this is something where one feels almost on one makes these calls like once constantly asking you know, you should do this for these people because they're being oppressed and your government

has a say in it. But we really benefit from this too, Right if you look at what the Kurdish people and their allies in Turkey have done and standing up for democracy in getting the government to reverse this attempt to steal an election, you know, that's one small example of the very powerful democratic tradition that they have.

That is something that we can learn from. You know, whether you're in the US or in Europe, in many different countries around the world right now, the threat of authoritarianism and the sort of far right politics of which Airedwan is an example. It's an international threat, and you know, standing with the people who've been able to resist it is something that you know can benefit us all around the world as well.

The one more thing I wanted to cover with we're jumping around a little bit was that, like, I think people will probably have seen at least maybe their social media timelines are different than mine, but there was a lot of violence against Kurdish people in Northern Europe recently, right in Belgium, I think, I think maybe in Germany

as well. Explain a little bit of that. Like it's we get into a little bit of like like Turkish fascist politics as well, but can you explain what was going on there?

You have the GRABLE, which are a fascist paramilitary actually the paramilitary wing of the party with which Airdwon is currently allied and with which he has a majority in parliament, the National Action Party or the MHP. You know, this is a group that's been responsible for murders and assassinations and all kinds of attacks on Kurds, other minorities, dissidents, and has been responsible for violence in Europe as well.

You have the government encouraging religious fundamentalism through its network of religious institutions in Europe and trying to make that very extreme and very politically instrumentalized vision of religion popular amongst the Turkish community. And then you have you know, Turkish intelligence assets able to freely operate and conduct all kinds of attacks on Kurdish dissidents. You know, within the

very center of Europe. Right, we all remember in twenty thirteen the assassination of Sakina Johnson in front of the Kurdish Community Center in Paris. That murder was never solved. The perpetrator, who they caught, very conveniently died in prison before he was set to go to trial. Turkish responsibility has never been proven in court, I think because there are a lot of people who don't want a full

investigation of a case like that to come out. And then, just I believe yesterday or maybe the day before, it came out that a Belgian court found alleged Turkish operatives responsible for planning attacks on two very senior Kurdish diplomats in Belgium who are members of the Kurdistan National Congress, which is sort of like the de facto foreign ministry

of the Kurdish diaspora in Europe. You know, these individuals had been spying on the Kurdistan National Congress building, They'd been in contact with Turkish officials, They'd been planning assassinations

very senior politicians. This is a real problem. You know, these groups and the state itself are able to freely attack civilians, plot murders and do violence and really cause chaos, and that's something that's very dangerous, not only for the Kurdish community, but for really anybody living in their way.

certainly good. And obviously, you know, we saw a lot of calls for restraint, you know, from the Kurdish community, a lot of calls for these European governments essentially to do their job and prevent these groups from you know, importing their nationalist campaigns against a persecuted minority to a place where you know, these chords have fled to be free from that sort of thing. So it stopped for now,

but it's very much not over, you know. I when you see the Kurdish community in Europe and spend time with them and look at the security precautions that they have to take just to hold conferences and cultural festivals, Yeah, it's really quite disheartening.

religious fundamentalist regimes that are on the rise everywhere. These are political trends that are growing around the world, and Airdowan and his current Turkish government are a very clear example of the danger that that causes not to just the population of a country, but to neighboring countries, to diaspora communities that have left that have gone elsewhere. That maintain their culture and maintain their interest in political organizing.

So these are threats that people are going to be looking at around the world, and I think it's very important to be following the situation in Turkey for that reason. But at the same time, looking at how the Kurdish people and their allies in Turkey, you know, on the left, in workers' movements, in feminist movements and all of these sort of groups that have also been victed by Erdowan's regime.

We're seeing that resistance is possible, that people can stand up for democracy and they can win, and that look right, nobody's giving up on their work. You know, the KMK doesn't stop advocating for Kurdish interests in a diplomatic capacity

because their members face threats. You know, these people go to work every single day, you know, in Roosjeva, in North and Eastsyria, in Iraqi, Kurdistan, Kurdish groups, you know, Kurdish political organizations, Kurdish politicians and activists, they continue building up their project. You know, I said, I was just in northern Syria. It's extremely difficult right now. People don't have electricity, people don't have water because Turkey bombed all

the infrastructure, but still they're celebrating Noil Rose. You know, they're talking about their upcoming local elections that they want to hold and how to hold them in the best way. You know, They're talking about their new social contract and how they can implement it. They're moving forward constantly despite the threats that they're facing. And I think that that, you know, many of you listening to this are people who are probably looking to improve and change the society

that you live in. And so when we look at what's going on in Turkey and in Kurdistan, we can see both very clear examples of what it is that people who want change are up against, but also what they can accomplish even under those conditions.

obviously happy to do it. But like it would be nice to see some of that solidarity come back from the us, right, so are they're like, I mean, I guess you can come down to the border and help Kurdish people literally any day of the week if you'd

like to do that all the time. But what concrete actions can people take, especially with regard to like helping your self administration in North and East Syria right, Like they're facing constant attacks, power stations get bombed, Like all my friends there are always struggling to have power, internet or even like electricity, and they got flooded recently on top of all that. Yeah, so like their concrete actions people can take to help to be in solidarity.

in a situation like this live they want expertise. There's a lot of problems that they're facing that they simply because of the war, don't have the capacity not only to solve, but even to start thinking about how it is that one solves a problem like this, because there just aren't that many societies in the world going through it.

So any kind of expertise in addressing energy issues, environmental issues, these kinds of problems, the second and third order effects of the attacks on infrastructure, on oil and gas, on power facilities, that would be very important. They really do need that, and that's something you know, you can write to us at the Kurdish Piece Institute. We can connect you with people. If you have contacts on the ground there,

you can talk to them. That's one thing. Then at the end of the day, you know, they have these elections coming up. That is a big step for them. They've just put out a new social contract. They're really trying to listen to some of the internal criticisms that they get and really build up the civil, social political

side of their system. You know, there's a belief among many people there that I've talked to that because of the existential nature of these wars that they're fighting, they haven't been able to really pursue the political elements of their revolution to the degree that they want to. And they're trying to do that now. They have this new social Contract. It's an incredible document. You can read it. Going to hold municipal elections on May thirtieth, I believe

is the date that was announced. So any if you know a lot about electoral systems, if you have done election observation before, if you want to help them do that right and get international attention for what it is that they're doing. That's another way that people have been telling me that you can help. And then finally, you know, if you're here listening in the US, Airdowan is coming to the White House on May ninth. According to reports from Turkish and international media, there is going to be

a demonstration. There will probably be a lot of campaigns around that demonstration as well, on things like conditioning and ending arm sales and security assistants, on calls for peace, on calls for the US to end its support for and enablement of Turkey's occupation of Iraq and Syria, It's repression of its Kurdish people at home, and so anything that you can do to join those actions in those

campaigns would be very helpful. You know, this is going to be an opportunity to let both Airdowan and the White House hear what the American people think about US support for what the Turkish government is doing. So be there, get involved. That's one way that we can, you know, make our voices heard and try to push for a change in policy.

and that would concretely stop. Like I spoke to a mother who lost her son. I think it was like fourteen fifteen little football player. They had pictures of him all over the house, right, Like it was really heartbreaking stuff. And I know that this happens a lot in other parts of the world. I'm not saying that's one important too, but yeah, it's it's always hard to talk to parents who have lost their kids, and you can stop that happening.

If we don't sell them the F sixteens that do that, then they don't have the ability to do it, at least not as much.

they're on the same side. We don't always know that we're on the same side too, And so I think that getting together and pointing out the patterns and standing against you know, these arms sales and security assistants in the context of Kurdistan alongside many other contexts where they're also very destructive, is an important way that we can sort of amplify our efforts to do that.

English language. If you're looking for resource is on the ground, you can follow North Press Agency, which publishes in English, the Roulejeva Information Center which publishes in English. And then you know, get involved with your local Kurdish community in

a lot of major cities in the US. If you're in New York, if you're in Boston, if you're in the DMV area, if you're in California, like you know, there are active Kurdish communities, and you know, go to a cultural event, go to a demonstration, you'll find both great ways to get connected and really get plugged into solidarity efforts. But also you know, a wonderful community and a wonderful culture that I think, you know, anyone would be.

I've certainly been, you know, very happy to have experienced.