Kurdish Politicians among Dozens Sought by Turkey over 2014 Protests

Turkish Gendarmerie clash with Kurdish demonstrators during a protest against Islamic State (IS) militants near Sanliurfa, Turkey, 07 October 2014. Photo: EPA/SEDAT SUNA

A little over half were arrested and the others were still being sought, the Ankara Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

It accused them of "taking part in financial structuring of the Kobani incidents and providing financial assistance to the families of dead or injured PKK members," a reference to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party. The specific charge concerns "prevention of financing of terrorism and being a member of an armed terrorist organisation."

Ankara says the PKK was behind the protests. The HDP, Ankara claims, has ties to the PKK and supported the protests, charges the HDP denies.

In October 2014, protestors took to the streets in eastern and southeastern cities mainly populated by Kurds. They accused the Turkish government and Turkish army of supporting the Islamic State siege of Kobani, just over the border in Syria.

According to reports by the Human Rights Association, at least 46 people died and 682 people were injured in clashes that erupted between protesters and police. Some 323 people were arrested and curfews were declared to halt the violence.

Authorities under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have intensified a crackdown on Kurdish politicians in recent years; since 2016, around a dozen HDP deputies have been jailed on terrorism charges, including Selahattin Demirtas, the party's former co-chair and one of the country's most popular Kurdish figures. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled he should be released.

The Turkish Constitutional Court is currently considering a case that would outlaw the HDP.