Place: The New School University Center, 63 5th Avenue , room UL 104, New York City
Following the rise and victory of the democratic forces of Turkey as manifested in the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on the June 7th elections, the Turkish government under the leadership of President Erdoğan reinitiated the war on Kurdistan and the collective punishment of the Kurdish people, in a frantic effort to consolidate power around Erdoğan’s presidency via fascistic rhetoric and methods.According to a recent report by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, 58 24-hour curfews have been imposed in 19 districts of 7 Kurdish cities in Turkey. At least 224 civilians (42 children, 31 women, and 30 people over the age of 60) have been killed by state violence, while approximately 1,377,000 residents have been affected by these curfews (violating such fundamental rights as the right to health services and even the right to life).
In response to the abandonment of the peace negotiations for the sake of Erdoğan’s presidency, the Kurdish people have declared their own democratic autonomy in many regions, the solution that the Kurdish Liberation Movement has long put forth to the Turkish state.
With:
Hişyar Özsoy – Parliamentarian, HDP
Osman Baydemir – Parliamentarian, HDP
Andrew Arato – Professor of political and social theory, The New School
Suzanne Adely – International Association of Democratic Lawyers, National Lawyers Guild
