Najmaldin Karim Webinar Series
In recent months, the Turkish government put more pressure on the Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) to a point that the party is now facing closure by the government. On March 17, the general prosecutor of the Supreme Court filed a lawsuit to shut down the HDP. The HDP is the largest political entity representing the Kurds and Turks together and it’s the second-largest opposition party. In the past decades, the Turkish government shut down five major Kurdish parties including HEP, ÖZDEP, DEP, HADEP, DEHAP( which merged into DTP), and finally DTP.
What would the closure of the HDP mean for Turkey, especially the Kurds? Have potential alliances between the HDP and the opposition parties motivated the ruling parties- Justice and Development (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) to close the HDP? Would the AKP and the MHP enjoy public backing if they are successful in closing the HDP? How can the HDP remain as strong given that thousands of their members and tens of their lawmakers and former officials remain behind bars? What are the alternatives for the Kurds and the HDP supporters? and much more by our distinguished speakers.
Nick Danforth– Click for opening remarks
Nazan Bedirhanoglu– Click for opening remarks
Shwan Karim– Click for opening remarks
Nicholas Danforth
Dr. Nicholas Danforth is author of the forthcoming book The Remaking of Republican Turkey: Memory and Modernity since the Fall of the Ottoman Empire. He has covered U.S.-Turkish relations for the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Bipartisan Policy Center. Danforth received his M.A. from the School of Oriental and African Studies and his B.A. from Yale. He completed his Ph.D. in history at Georgetown University in 2015 and has written widely about Turkey, U.S. foreign policy, and the Middle East for publications including The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, War on the Rocks, and The Washington Post.
Nazan Bedirhanoglu
Dr. Nazan Bedirhanoglu is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Wellesley College where she teaches courses on the Middle East, development, and political economy. She was a faculty member at Ankara University’s Department of International Relations until 2017. She was expelled from her position and was blacklisted because she protested the Turkish Government’s atrocities against the Kurdish civilians by signing the Peace Petition. She received her PhD in Sociology from Binghamton University and her MA in International Relations from Ankara University. Her research areas include the Kurdish diaspora, Kurdish politics, foreign policy, political economy, and intellectual property. Along with her scholarly activities, Nazan continues to work to raise awareness about the democratic deficit and authoritarianism in Turkey and in the Middle East.
Shwan Karim– Moderator, Washington Kurdish Institute contributor