HELSINKI – Hundreds of politicians, journalists, researchers and activists working for fundamental rights for the Kurds have been arrested in Turkey over the past year. The arrests are part of a war waged by the Erdogan-led AKP party against democracy, freedom of expression and the Kurds.
Presidential elections are due to be held in Turkey on Sunday 14 May and, with the AKP party’s support collapsing, Erdogan is violently trying to hold on to power by eliminating the opposition by force. Of course, authoritarianism also includes criminalising criticism of those in power. A 13-year-old boy is currently facing a four-year prison sentence for disrespecting the dictator.
#DisrespectErdogan pic.twitter.com/5ZIYeTjpG1
— RiseUp4Rojava Finland (@R4RFinland) May 14, 2023
The charge is the same one under which the Helsinki police, in cooperation with the AKP-Turkey, banned activists from staging a performance critical of Erdogan in front of the Turkish Embassy about a month ago. The performance was blocked “to prevent defamation of President Erdogan”. However, after the demonstration, the person who announced it was anyway told that they were suspected of the crime, which the police said they had prevented.
Criticising authoritarian leaders is not a crime, but a shared duty of all those on the side of democracy. The extinction of criticism means the extinction of democracy. Join us in the fight for democracy and human rights by sharing content critical of Erdogan with the hashtag #disrespecterdogan
Bijî berxwedana Rojava
RiseUp 4 Rojava Finland
