DEM Party officials say detentions are undermining peace process
DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan and party spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan said a recent wave of detentions and access blocks on opposition social media accounts is harming the Peace and Democratic Society Process.
RastinewsDEM Party leadership issued a series of statements on how recent detentions of politicians and rights defenders, along with access blocks on social media accounts, are affecting the Peace and Democratic Society Process. Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan called the rising number of detentions and arrests "unacceptable" and said the measures are damaging a process that has been underway for roughly two years.
"We wake up every morning to news of new detentions"
Bakırhan criticized the detention that morning of numerous people, including Mertcan Titiz, co-chair of the Socialist Party of Refoundation (SYKP), a DEM Party component organization. "Turkey wakes up every morning to news of new detentions and arrests targeting one opposition group or another," he said.
"Strengthening the hand of those opposed to the process"
Bakırhan argued that detaining politicians and rights defenders, targeting people over their lifestyle or gender identity, and blocking access to press and opposition accounts amount to interference with freedom of expression, thought and organization. He said these practices strengthen the hand of those opposed to the process rather than building public support for it: "Peace rests on trust, not fear. You cannot speak of a societal solution on one hand while narrowing the space for politics, press, organizing and expression on the other."
Bakırhan called on the government to abandon these practices, saying, "What Turkey needs is not more repression, but more democracy, dialogue and social trust."
Doğan: "Aimed at undermining the process"
DEM Party spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan also linked recent developments to the peace process, saying, "Even someone watching events in the country from a distance these past few days could conclude they are aimed at undermining the Peace and Democratic Society Process." Doğan said that in an environment where different segments of society are targeted daily, it is becoming harder to believe in peace, let alone convince others to believe in it.
Doğan also criticized access blocks placed on the X accounts of rights defenders, journalists, writers and members of Academics for Peace, calling them "a serious interference with freedom of expression and organization." She closed her statement by saying, "Our safety, all of ours, is only possible through law, democracy and freedoms."