Washington Kurdish Institute
January 19, 2021
It is no secret that Turkey was the main route for ISIS (Da’esh) terrorists across the globe who flocked to Syria in thousands to support the establishment of the terrorist group’s so-called “Caliphate”, capturing swathes of land in Syria and Iraq and committing mass rape and murder. The comfortable route taken by foreign terrorists who routinely transited from NATO member Turkey to Syria earned the moniker of the “Jihadi Highway.” By turning the blind eye to the most brutal terror group committing war crimes on its border, Turkey was, at best, an accessory to the countless crimes against civilians and mass displacement, the consequences of which will be felt for years to come. Furthermore, Da’esh was able to recruit tens of thousands of terrorists around the world via Turkey. In addition to the Syrian Kurds, who allied with the US and were the primary local force on the ground responsible for defeating Da’esh, many other governments and non-governmental entities accused the Turkish government, headed by authoritarian President Recep Tayipp Erdogan, of actively supporting Da’esh. Relatively early in the battle against the terrorist group, during the siege of Kobani, Erdogan was not shy in stating his wish and believe that the Kurdish city would fall to Da’esh, as the group’s freely maneuvered near Turkish troops. Furthermore, research by David Phillips, Director of the Peace-building and Human Rights Program at Columbia University showed Dae’sh receiving military, financial, and medical support from Turkey. Additionally, Turkey was also accused of recruiting former Da’esh members to serve in their various proxy forces. Indeed, Turkey’s overt support to al Qaeda off-shoots and many other jihadist groups dashed the hopes of an effective and democratic Syrian revolution, serving the propaganda purposes of the Syrian regime, Russia, and Iran since 2011.
The Syrian civil war started as part of what has become known as “Arab Spring”, aiming to topple a family dictatorship that had ruled the country for decades. However, regional powers, primarily Turkey turned it into a never-ending war and helped transform Syria into a a hub for a myriad of dangerous terrorist groups such as Da’esh. While the world, including various European nations, faced terror attacks planned or inspired by radical groups in Syria, the United Nations Security Council adopted a new resolution aiming to block the financing of terrorists and their movements. The UNSC Resolution 2462 (2019) UNSC called upon the member states to “step up efforts to combat and criminalize the financing of terrorists” in a reaction similar to what was seen following the 9/11 attacks on the US. The resolution would have dramatically weakened the terrorist groups if implemented as intended byTurkey, the main route for Da’esh and other jihadists who increased their presence and territorial control in Syria and set their sights on sewing terror throughout Europe. However, Erdogan’s party and their allies, the far right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), took advantage of the Security Council resolution and turned it into a Turkish law to further repress opposition groups, primarily focusing on the Kurds in the country.
On December 27, the Turkish General Assembly (Parliament) passed a law which was purportedly in accordance with the UNSC resolution, though it was focused on controlling civil society and non-governmental organizations, increasing Erdogan’s control over another segment of society and engine for freedom of expression and further transforming Turkey into a totalitarian state under the unchecked one man rule of Erdogan. The Turkish law gives the governors and the Ministry of Interior, currently headed Minister Süleyman Soylu of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), absolute power to oversee and close down civilian organizations and raise terrorism charges against their personnel. For example, Article 15 of the law “allows the Ministry of Interior to dismiss these individuals or may immediately apply to the court to request temporary suspension of activities of the association”. International human rights groups and hundreds of Turkish organizations have denounced the law, as, under Erdogan, the terrorism charge is often used against real or perceived political rivals rather than terrorists. “This law will tighten government control over civil society organizations, further curtailing their freedom of association in an environment where the government already misuses antiterrorism legislation as an instrument of repression against legitimate civic actors,” said Marc Behrendt, Director for Europe and Eurasia programs at Freedom House.
The new NGO laws be used to broaden the ongoing crackdown on the Kurds of Turkey, who routinely face accusations of terrorism for demanding equality and basic rights. Indeed, this persecution is not reserved for only those Kurds within Turkey’s borders. For example, the world is witnessing the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Kurdish areas in Syria by the Turkish Armed Forces and their jihadist proxy militias, and the Turkish military’s ongoing airstrikes and incursions into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) under the pretense of fighting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the main armed group fighting the Turkish state for Kurdish rights since 1978. In both Syria and Iraq, the Turkish military has not only indiscriminately used deadly force against Kurdish civilians and driven them from their homes, but also established zones of military occupation, in blatant violation of basic international law. Erdogan and the Turkish state have taken advantage of their NATO membership and the politically-motivated US and EU designation of the PKK as a terror organization, to attack Kurds in all parts of Kurdistan and lobby against any and all expressions of Kurdish identity and demands for Kurdish rights worldwide. Within Turkey, Erdogan, like his predecessors, has taken great pains to eliminate any legal avenues for the Kurds to demand justice – for example, Erdogan’s crackdown on the Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the third largest party in Turkey’s parliament, since 2015 has resulted in the detention and prosecution of thousands of its members, lawmakers, and leaders. The crackdown on the HDP began soon after the party entered parliament as a block for the first time after the June 2015 general elections in which Kurds and many non-Kurds voted for the party. The new NGO laws will certainly be used to intensify the persecution of the Kurds, stifle civil society and NGO work related to human rights and freedom of speech, and strengthen Erdogan’s grip on power.
Simultaneously with the passing of the new measures against NGOs, Erdogan’s main ally, the MHP and its leader Devlet Bahçeli, have repeatedly called for the closure of the HDP. Turkey has a history of banning legal pro-Kurdish political parties– for example, the Democratic Society Party (DTP) was banned in 2009 and the People’s Democracy Party (HADEP) was banned in 2003. The MHP, an openly ultranationalist party with a racist platform, has decades of history in deep state assassinations against the Kurdish politicians and others. Unfortunately, Bahçeli has good reason to believe that the Turkish courts will comply with his demands. If HDP is shuttered, the votes of millions of Kurds and Turks will be effectively nullified. It is notable that the MHP’s alliance with Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) was a marriage of convenience. The MHP lost popularity and experienced disappointing results in recent elections, especially in the rerun election of 2015, which led many to demand that Bahçeli, the party’s leader since 1997, resign. In this election, the AKP and Erdogan won the majority but not enough to hold a referendum and change Turkey’s system to an executive presidency, one of Erdogan’s primary goals, which was achieved with questionable legitimacy in 2017 with the help of the MHP. While the AKP once competed for Kurdish votes in certain parts of the country, the party has now openly embraced radical nationalism. The uncompromising, racist, and deadly approach to the Kurdish question unites the AKP and MHP, despite their certain pronounced ideological differences and vastly different party histories. While both are right-wing conservative parties, the AKP is an Islamist party with close links to the Muslim Brotherhood, while the MHP is a Turkish and pan-Turkic ultra-nationalist party which nonetheless considers their own interpretation of Islam as an integral part of Turkish identity. To galvanize support among the masses in Turkey, both have shown an interest and desire to appeal to nationalist sentiment by cracking down on the Kurds. In this alliance, the AKP is undoubtedly the senior partner, as Erdogan continues to broaden his power while the MHP sees their support steadily decrease.
Turkey’s new NGO laws and increased aggression against the HDP are, unfortunately, not surprising developments. Rather, they are the next logical step in Turkey’s steady march into authoritarianism. As the world remains silent and Turkey continues to exploit its position as NATO’s outpost in the Middle East, the Erdogan, the AKP, and MHP are putting the final nails in the coffin of any semblance of democracy in Turkey.