On 8 September, over a thousand policemen and soldiers conducted a mass raid operation on Yayha neighborhood in Erzurum's Karayazi district, as result of which 33 houses were broken in and thoroughly checked. The Turkish policemen and soldiers detained the inhabitants under torture.

Following that incident, HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) dispatched a commission to the neighborhood, which also included HDP Bitlis parliamentarian Mizgin Irgat who shared her observations with the ANF.

“THEY WANT TO EMPTY THE VILLAGES”

Irgat stated that all of the villagers were treated as suspects by the state forces that tried take villagers’ statements under practices of torture, and continued as follows: "They beat the villagers one by one, insulted them, checked them and detained them thereafter. They did all that even without presenting a single legal reason. By doing so, the state forces try to empty the villages, destroy them, and create a republic of fear. Both, those who issued the order hierarchically and the ones following it are guilty. These are illegal acts."

“THEY RAIDED THE VILLAGE MANY TIMES”

HDP investigation committee member Mizgin Irgat pointed out that the women were subject to verbal harassment, insults and sexist swearwords, and continued: "The doors of 33 homes were broken. They entered by force and checked every single house 2-3 times. Ahmet Göksu and his father suffered the heaviest practices of torture. If you commit a crime, an incident to investigate and witnesses, you solve it within legal frames. You cannot just torture people and exert the force on them in their home.

The soldiers just entered the village and put psychological pressure on the people with ceaseless absurd accusations like 'Why are your lamps on? Why are you moving?' According to the information we gathered, they raided some houses 8 times, and all times they left empty-handed. What they want is, to break the people away from their villages and homes. They impose it."

'RESIDENTS OF THE VILLAGES ARE MAINLY HDP VOTERS'

Irgat stressed the predominance of HDP voters in recently raided villages and said: "This is no coincidence. It means that the raided villages mostly inhabited by opposition supporters. I evaluate this as an attack to their political will and choices. They want to punish these people for their political choices. They put pressure on the people to influence their political choice in the upcoming elections. It is a constitutional crime to that directly or indirectly. You can’t judge people for their choices. Or you can’t punish them or use that as an excuse to put pressure on them.”

'WE WON'T LET IT GO'

HDP investigation committee member Mizgin Irgat stated that no force can make the villagers regret their political will and ideas, and said: "The villagers say, 'we didn't insult any of them. We didn’t accuse them. We know for whom we will vote for. We do not accept this mistreatment which is because of our Kurdish identity'. We will file against it to political and judicial institutions. We will stand up against it.”