Pro-Kurdish Party Starts ‘Justice March’ in Turkey

The People’s Democratic Party has launched what it calls a march for ‘justice and democracy’ in response to President Erdogan’s growing crackdown on his critics.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, HDP, launched its “Justice and Democracy March” on Monday in the cities of Edirne and Hakkari, in the far east and west of the country.

The two marching groups are expected to converge in the capital, Ankara, in late June.

The third largest party in parliament has been under growing pressure from the government in the last few years for organizing events that challenge the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and for warning him to respect the law or face “the revolt of injustice”.

Over the past four years, at least 23 HDP mayors, including the party’s two former co-leaders, have been imprisoned, while others have been ousted from their elected offices.

The purge of the HDP, accelerated by the collapse of the Turkish-Kurdish peace process, stems from the government’s association of the party with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, which Ankara classifies as a terrorist organisation.