A great anger spread all over Turkey after the ISIS attack on Kobanê, a canton of the Kurdish Rojava in Northern Syria. Especially in Kurdish cities, the police repressed mass mobilizations brutally. However, the police was not alone in its brutality.
The Turkish Hizbullah, which serves as a counter-guerilla and is called by the Turkish left Hizbulkontra, attacked the masses with guns and swords. The scene was not limited to Kurdish towns. In Gaziantep there was a massacre too. And in the big cities as Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, the police, fascist and religious gangs – what we call Islamo-fascists – attacked mass demonstrations.
From the beginning, the RED Movement was a part of the demonstrations in big cities calling the Turkish workers for solidarity with Kobanê and to fight the government and the fascists/Islamo-fascists.
A chronology of demonstrations and massacres can be summarized as:
6 October 2014:
The People’s Democratic Party (HDP – Legal party of the Kurdish movement founded by some left groups) made a statement after the ordinary meeting of its Central Committee: “We call all of our peoples, all the world, to reveal themselves and to take action in the streets against the massacre attempt occurred in Kobanê. All international institutions, all democratic mass organizations, labor, professional, women’s or youth organizations and democratic forces have to take action against the savageness experienced in Kobanê. From now on, everywhere is Kobanê. We call to permanent resistance until the end of this brutal offensive.”
After that call, from that night many demonstrations took place: all of them were brutally attacked by the police. Dozens of people have been killed or brutally wounded by the police and also by fascist groups.
Here is a list of people murdered during protests:
7 October 2014:
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As a result of fire opened by pro-government village guards in Kurtalan (a town in Siirt) Mehdi Erdoğan (35) and Yusuf Çelik (17) lost their lives. 11 people are wounded.
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In Varto (a town in Muş) Hakan Buksur (25) lost his life as a result of fire opened by police. 3 people are wounded.
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In Diyarbakır, as a result of fire opened by police and Hezbollah supporters, Süleyman Kale (19), Yusuf Tokar, Mahsun Çoban, Uğur Özbay (19), Baver Şeyhanlıoğulları (18) lost their lives. Also Mahmud Enez (55), Turan Yavaş and Riyad Güneş (who were members of HÜDA-PAR – Legal party of Turkish Hezbollah acting as counter-guerilla) died. 10 peoples are wounded.
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In Batman, Emrah Demir (23) is killed in front of the provincial office of HÜDA-PAR (party of Hezbollah supporters.)
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In Kızıltepe (a district of Mardin), Kerem Karaaslan (22) lost his life by fire opened from a car.
In the 6 provinces (Diyarbakır, Batman, Mardin, Van, Siirt and Muş) where these events happened curfews were declared. But no one cared.
8 October 2014:
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In Kızıltepe (Mardin), two people were found dead. One of them is a Saudi Arabia citizen (Fehad İbrahim Elduveric) and the other one is a Syria citizen (Abdullah Muhammed Latif).
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In Dargeçit (Mardin), during protests Bilal Gezer, Sinan Toprak and Eshan Akdoğan lost their lives.
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In Siirt, during clashes between police and youth a young man named D.N. (17) lost his life.
9 October 2014:
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During the funeral of Bilal Gezer and Sinan Toprak, the police attacked people and one person (Abdulkerim Seyhan) lost his life. 6 people are wounded.
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In Siirt, at a gas station as a result of fire opened Kamil Taş lost his life. 5 people are wounded.
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In Nusaybin (Mardin), Beşir Ramazan Arif (8) was murdered by soldiers.
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After the burial of Yusuf Çelik murdered by a village guard, his father Necmettin Çelik (he was also wounded at the same day) lost his life.
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In Yüreğir (a district of Adana) Ahmet Albay (69) was murdered by unidentified persons while he was sitting in front of his house. And his son also is wounded.
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Yunus Aktaş who was wounded by firearms during Van protests lost his life.
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In Bingöl, after the murder of two constables by unidentified persons, Ali Bozan (45), Ramazan Özmaskan (22), Emrah Ekinci (15) and Şahabettin Naş (22) were murdered by the police, who alleged they had killed those constables.
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In Gaziantep, four people lost their lives during clashes: Ömer Uçaker (27), Süleyman Balcı (15), Şahin Dağhan (24) and Sevgi Alıcı (18).
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In Diyarbakir during clashes between dissident protesters Yasin Börü (16) and Hasan Gökgöz (26) lost their lives.
10 October 2014:
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In Diyarbakır Murat Dağ (24) lost his life during clashes between police and protesters. A member of HÜDA-PAR who was wounded during attacks against people’s protests on 7 October, Cumali Güneş (30) died. Mesut Menekşe (42) who was also wounded on the same day, lost his life.
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In Esenyurt (a district of İstanbul) Mert Değirmenci (18) lost his life by police attacks.
12 October 2014:
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Musa Bayram (26) who was wounded during protests in Gaziantep, lost his life.
The situation is more serious than it seems in this list. 46 people died, 682 people are wounded, 1974 people are detained and 323 people are arrested. There was also terrible lynch attempts against protesters. One of the most striking of them happened on 8 October in Esenyurt (Istanbul): Kabil Okyatan was stripped to the buff, battered and stabbed numbers of times by anti-Kobanê protesters on the street. In Gaziantep, Mersin, Van and Batman HDP’s party buildings were set on fire. Their excuses were always the same: “Pro-Kobanê protesters burned Atatürk statues and Turkish flags”, “they damaged public properties” and so on. It is true but none of them can be an excuse to murder, lynch and wound people. On the other hand HDP’s co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, on 8 October, had declared that actions like burning statues and flags were nothing but a provocation to block support to Kobanê and that he was against such actions. However, most of the anti-Kobanê protesters, fascists and the government blamed him and his party.
On 10 October co-chairs of HDP had made a joint statement to put an end to these protests: “Events happened because the ISIS siege have reached grave levels. The situation in Kobanê is critical yet. (…) We consider it significant and necessary that the Kurdish people are coming onto the streets to take ownership of Kobanê and raise public awareness. However, it is apparent that there are circles that have been lying in wait and are attempting to create serious internal conflict. (…) In this chaotic environment we must form common sense policies that do not abandon Kobanê, do not present an opportunity for provocations, maintain the process and protect people. (…) People should not resort to violence against each other. The attack on the Police chief in Bingöl and subsequent incidents and deaths are serious events, and there should be a full investigation, as such incidents have the potential to negatively influence events. (…)”
After this statement, pro-Kobanê protests calmed down. On 11 October, İstanbul Solidarity With Kobanê (İstanbul Kobanê Dayanışması) appealed to protest government in Taksim (in which Gezi Park rebellion had broken out). RED Movement participated in this demonstration. We released a statement which said: “In Kobanê for 26 days people, despite the siege and embargo, continue their epic resistance in the ranks of YPG/YPJ. (…) After the infiltration of ISIS gangs into the city center on 6th October in Suruç (a district of Şanlıurfa, Kobanê’s neighboring) and the forced evacuation of two villages by soldiers, clashes started to occur within the city. For this reason, protests took place in much of the country against the AKP’s support to ISIS. (…) It is necessary to cut the umbilical cord with ISIS, to open a humanitarian corridor for the self-defence of Kobanê’s people, to recognize the status of Rojava and to revoke the war resolution.”
