HÜDA PAR Threatens the HDP over “Gays”

Source: “HÜDA PAR’dan LGBT tehdidi,” (“HDP Threatened Over Gays by HUDA PAR,”) T24, 31 October 2013, http://t24.com.tr/haber/huda-pardan-escinsellere-yonelik-nefret-soylemi-ve-hdpye-tehdit/243011

HÜDA PAR Chairperson: “They will suffer the consequences if they try to market mental illnesses and perversions to the Kurds under the guise of ‘freedom’.”

The chairperson of the Free Cause Party (Hür Dava Partisi) Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu talked about the HDP (People’s Democratic Party), whose constituency includes LGBTI individuals, with expressions of hate speech: “They will pay the consequences if they try to market mental illnesses and perversions to the Kurds under the guise of ‘freedom’.”

HÜDA PAR is known in Southeastern Turkey as the political party of the Sunni Islamist militant Kurdish Hizbullah movement. Discussing the HDP, which held its First Extraordinary Congress on October 27, 2013 and included three names representing LGBTI individuals, Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu answered the questions of HaberTurk’s Didem Yılmaz using controversial expressions.

“They will pay if they market perversion to the Kurds”

Yapıcıoğlu, who claimed that “The HDP, which is trying to advertise perverted groups under the guise of freedom, will not be able to gain a significant presence among Kurds,” said “Kurds are people who are loyal to their religion and traditions. The HDP is trying to put the LGBTI and the headscarf issues next to each other or integrate with marginal leftist groups without proper introduction. As if Kurds have run out of problems. They will pay the consequences if they try to market mental illnesses and perversions to the Kurds under the guise of ‘freedom’.”

“Marxist ideology cannot represent Kurds by itself”

Yapıcıoğlu said that they would present a report with their suggestions, demands, and criticisms regarding the peace process to the Prime Minister. He expressed these criticisms with the following words:

“It was necessary to stop the blood, the deaths, and the violence. We support the resolution process in this respect. However, there are mistakes and deficiencies in this process. For instance, mistakes have been made with regards to the method. The Kurdish problem has many causes. One cause is the dimension of violence and conflicts. The parties that needs to be addressed regarding ceasing violence is of course those who use violence as a tool. It is normal to meet with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) regarding the violence that is being experienced. However, we think meeting with the PKK as the only step to resolve the Kurdish problem is wrong. If it is said that Kurds have a problem, then the people to be addressed must be the Kurds. At this point, all of the representatives of the Kurds should be included in the process.

One of the clans living in Turkey that are most faithful to their religion, that are trying their best to live by their religious requirements, are the Kurds. This is an undisputable fact. Therefore, it is impossible for an organization that employs an ideology totally foreign to the people’s values, a Marxist ideology with Stalinist practices to establish a totalitarian regime, to represent Kurds by itself. There is another methodological error in the resolution process. The process is not conducted with transparency in mind. Recently, 10 or 20 percent of the armed forces were withdrawn. Were they withdrawn or weren’t they withdrawn? Various statements were made by the PKK and the government. The public needs to be better informed about these issues. We do not approve of these talks are being conducted in secret, behind closed doors, keeping people in the dark. Not only are there deficiencies along these lines, but the process is also weak in its content. If one prolongs the process too much, it will become a mess. Therefore, the government needs to hurry. Rights that have been stolen need to be returned to their rightful owners as soon as possible.”

‘We will surprise a lot of people”

Yapıcıoğlu explained that they are organized in all areas of Turkey even though their set-up is weak in the Black Sea region. He added: “We have established organizations in 243 districts and 145 towns in 48 cities. We are a political party that takes Islam as its guide. We try to be a voice for all Kurds. In fact, not only are we trying to represent Kurds, we will also attempt to be the voice, the defender, the mentor for all oppressed people, whether Muslim or not. We have decided not to offer an alliance to any other political party. We do not have such an intention. However, we will consider the costs and benefits of such offers if they come from any other parties. I do not mean calculating the costs and benefits for us but for our people. We will not be able to evaluate the increases and decreases in votes since we do not have prior experience with elections. However, I can tell that we will receive more votes than expected and will surprise a lot of people.”

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