People's Labour Party (Turkey)

The People's Labour Party (Turkish: Halkın Emek Partisi, HEP), sometimes translated as the People's Work Party, was a pro-Kurdish political party in Turkey. It was founded on 7 June 1990 by seven members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly expelled from the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP). HEP was led by Ahmet Fehmi Işıklar.[1]It first viewed itself as a party for the whole of Turkey. In June 1991 its president Işıklar declared on its first party congress that several circles tried to brand the party as a Kurdish party, and since the party is a party of the suppressed, and with in this frame work, they are proud of being called a Kurdish party. Some days later he reiterated that they were not uncomfortable with being called a Kurdish Party since it was the Kurds, whose rights were most infringed. After this declaration, several of the Turkish founding members resigned.[2] For the elections of 1991, it formed an alliance with the SHP of Erdal Inönü,[3] and 22 politicians from the HEP entered the parliament with this alliance.[4] The HEP was involved in peace negotiations with the PKK. On 16 April 1993 chairman Ahmet Türk and five other MPs traveled to the Bar Elias in Lebanon, demanding a prolongation of the cease fire declared by the PKK before.[5] The cease-fire was prolonged at a press conference given the same day.[6] Due to the overt promotion of Kurdish cultural and political rights the party was banned by the Constitutional Court in July 1993.[7] The party was succeeded by the Democracy Party (DEP) established in May 1993.[1]In 2002 the European Court of Human Rights granted Feridun Yazar, Ahmet Karataş and Ibrahim Aksoy each 10`000€ and another 10`000€ combined due to the banning of their party.[8]

People's Labour Party

Halkın Emek Partisi
LeaderAhmet Fehmi Işıklar
FoundedJune 7, 1990 (1990-06-07)
BannedJuly 14, 1993 (1993-07-14)
Split fromSocial Democratic Populist Party
Succeeded byFreedom and Democracy Party
Freedom and Equality Party
IdeologySocial democracy
Kurdish nationalism
Political positionLeft-wing

Vedat Aydın, the Diyarbakır branch chairman of HEP, was found dead on a road near Malatya on 7 July 1991, two days after armed men had taken him from his home in Diyarbakır. His wife, Sükran Aydın states that her husband's murder was a turning point and that there was a sudden increase in the number of unsolved murders in Turkey's southeastern region following his death. She says that JİTEM, a clandestine unit within the Turkish Gendarmerie, was responsible for his murder.[9]

Parliamentarians

References
  1. Aylin Güney. "The People's Democracy Party" (PDF). Political Parties in Turkey. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  2. Watts, Nicole F. (2010). Activists in Office. University of Washington Press. p. 64. ISBN 9780295990491.
  3. Turan, Ilter (2015-04-16). Turkey's Difficult Journey to Democracy: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back. OUP Oxford. p. 205. ISBN 9780191640612.
  4. Watts, Nicole F. (2011-07-01). Activists in Office: Kurdish Politics and Protest in Turkey. University of Washington Press. p. 68. ISBN 9780295800820.
  5. Gunes, Cengiz (2013-01-11). The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From Protest to Resistance. Routledge. p. 163. ISBN 9781136587986.
  6. Özcan, Ali Kemal (2006). Turkey's Kurds: A Theoretical Analysis of the PKK and Abdullah Ocalan. Routledge. p. 205. ISBN 9780415366878.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. Güney 2002, p. 124.
  8. CHAMBER JUDGMENT IN THE CASE OF YAZAR, KARATAŞ, AKSOY AND THE PEOPLE’S LABOUR PARTY (HEP) v. TURKEY, p.1
  9. Melik Duvakli (2 March 2009). "Wife of slain Kurdish politician says husband killed by JİTEM". Today's Zaman. Retrieved 24 May 2010. Şükran Aydın: a clandestine unit within the gendarmerie is responsible for the murder.
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