Turkish authorities arrest a leader of the Democratic Party of Kurdish People

The Turkish authorities arrested the opposition leader of the Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP), Abdul Bari Yate, under the argument of accusing him of "belonging to a terrorist organisation", referring to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara includes in the lists of terrorists, according to the newspaper Al-Ain News.

The HDP is considered by Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government as the political arm of the PKK and has 65 deputies in the Turkish parliament.

According to the Turkish opposition newspaper Arte Gersk, Abdul Bari Yate is the co-chairman of the HDP branch in the eastern state of Mos. Two other people close to Yate were also arrested after protests against the arrest of the Kurdish party member.

Later, according to the local media, they were taken to the public prosecutor's office to start an investigation and to be sent to a state court.

On the same day, the Kurdish lawyer Ebru Timtik died after 238 days of hunger strike to demand a fair trial after being tried and sentenced by the Turkish "anti-terror" legislation.

Timtik was sentenced in March 2019 to thirteen years and six months in prison for "being a member of a terrorist organisation". This sentence was part of the macro-trial against 17 lawyers who were sentenced to a total of 159 years in prison.

In a statement, the Central Executive Council of the People's Democratic Party, which includes Kurds and sectors of the Turkish left, expressed its "sadness and anger" over the death of Timtik, while blaming the Erdogan government for what happened.

The persecution of HDP members by the Erdogan government is continuing. On May 15, five mayors who were members of the democratic party were dismissed from their functions, and at present, a total of 21 of the Kurdish mayors elected in the elections of 2019 are in prison.