In several cities in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan, women have shown solidarity with the Kurdish politician Saliha Aydeniz. The DBP MP is to be stripped of her parliamentary immunity in order to charge her with "resisting state authority". A parliamentary committee responsible for the proceedings made a recommendation to this effect on Wednesday.

Saliha Aydeniz is co-chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and is known for her long-standing involvement in the Kurdish women's movement. The outrage of the women's councils of the DBP and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) as well as among the activists of the Free Women's Movement (TJA) is accordingly great. In Istanbul, Adiyaman, Van, Amed (Diyarbakir), Mardin and Istanbul, numerous women declared at rallies that they consider Saliha Aydeniz to be their legitimate representative.

At a demonstration in front of the DBP headquarters in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district, TJA activist Güldem Doğan pointed out that a lynching campaign against Saliha Aydeniz has been going on for a month. "Whenever the AKP/MHP government is in trouble, it attacks the women's movement. We are addressing the male state system here once again: through the dirty politics that is being conducted in all areas of life and politics, we women will not be intimidated. We will smash this system and build a free and equal life in its place. We state again that we will not give up our struggle and will not retreat one step. Saliha Aydeniz represents the will of women. We do not recognise the illegal decision and declare in no uncertain terms that we stand behind Saliha Aydeniz," said Güldem Doğan.

Background to the case

The background to the case is Saliha Aydeniz's participation in the "Great March to Gemlik" for the lifting of Abdullah Öcalan's isolation in Istanbul. The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office accuses the 49-year-old politician of "resisting state authority" at the event in June and violating the Turkish law on assemblies. The MP sees the threat of prosecution as a targeted action against her party as well as the HDP and described the event as a "state-orchestrated criminalisation campaign" to justify a possible dissolution before the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Who is Saliha Aydeniz?

Saliha Aydeniz, born in 1973 in Ergani district of Amed, is a Kurdish politician and activist of the Free Women's Movement, TJA. She is a trained nurse and was elected as a deputy for the HDP in Turkey's parliament in 2018. In December 2019, she switched to the DBP and became its co-chair. The DBP is one of the member parties of the HDP and is mainly active in the Kurdish provinces in Turkey.