The 2011–2012 Kurdish protests in Turkey were protests in Turkey, led by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), against restrictions of Kurdish rights by of the country's Kurdish minority's rights. Although they were the latest in a long series of protest actions by Kurds in Turkey, they were strongly influenced by the concurrent popular protests throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and the Turkish publication Hürriyet Daily News has suggested that the popularly dubbed "Arab Spring" that has seen revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia may lead to a "Kurdish Summer" in the northern reaches of the Middle East. Protesters have taken to the streets both in Istanbul and in southeast Turkey, with some demonstrations also reported as far west in Anatolia as İzmir.
From 24 March and 10 May, a total of 2 protesters were killed, 308 injured and 2,506 detained by Turkish authorities.
The protests declined in July after a new breakout of violence between state forces and Kurdistan Workers' Party rebels.
Background There are currently 14 to 20 million Kurds in Turkey, living predominantly in the southeast of the country. The Kurdish people are a unique ethnic group with their own language and customs. In Turkey, the Kurdish uprising dates back to at least 1925, but the most recent major rebellion started in 1978 and has crossed the border into adjacent Iraqi Kurdistan on a number of occasions. Over 3,000 Kurdish villages have been "evacuated" by the Turkish armed forces since the conflict began.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Kurdish separatist group listed as a terrorist organization by the governments of Turkey and the United States, demands autonomy for Turkish Kurdistan. It has also called upon Turkish authorities to release Kurdish prisoners and detainees, overturn a ban on Kurdish-language education, and cease military action against Kurdish groups. In 2009, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched a "Kurdish initiative" aiming to broaden cultural rights for Kurds, but many Kurdish protesters have said this does not go far enough.Kurdish rebels end Turkey 'truce' – Middle East – Al Jazeera English
On 28 February 2011, the PKK announced an end to a unilateral ceasefire it had declared in August 2010, prompting Erdoğan to comment on the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) over its alleged collusion with the militant group. "A political party that is in Parliament hurling out threats ... during every election period puts pressure on people who want to exercise their democratic will and serves no other purpose," the prime minister said.
Censorship Internet censorship is practiced by the government of Turkey. A number of websites, including those of pro-Kurdish and alternative news outlets such as Voice of America, Bianet, and Azadiya Welat, are subject to a filter imposed by the Turkish Council of State. Bianet reported that according to new regulations adopted by the government in late February, this filter will be expanded from blocking access to certain websites from Internet cafés to affect all Internet access points and ISPs in Turkey sometime in the near future.
On 13 March 2011, The New York Times reported a turnout of "thousands" for a march in Istanbul protesting censorship of the press and the arrest of over a dozen journalists by Turkish authorities since the start of the month. The Turkish media advocacy group Freedom to Journalists Platform said Turkey held 68 journalists as of mid-March, including many on charges of "inciting public hatred" and similar offenses, though the government maintains only 27 journalists are incarcerated on unrelated charges.
Timeline
Main phase
March 24 March In a statement published online on 24 March, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) announced the immediate beginning of a civil disobedience campaign, beginning with a strike and sit-in in Diyarbakır, the largest city in the Kurdish region. The government responded by deploying soldiers and Army vehicles to break up the unsanctioned demonstration, which drew about 3,000 participants. Just a fraction of these participants—a few dozen MPs and Kurdish city officials, including the mayor of Diyarbakır—were permitted to proceed to the sit-in venue, while thousands more demonstrators thronged outside and shouted angry slogans. Police clashed with demonstrators, some of whom attempted to attack officers with fireworks, and detained five. A similar scene erupted in Batman, where a larger number of protesters were reportedly detained and protest tents were forcibly taken down.
27 March Demonstrations spread to Istanbul, İzmir, Silopi, and Antalya by 27 March. Protest camps also sprang up in Tunceli, Muş, Van, and Ağrı. Several dozen protesters were arrested.
Protest leader and MP Selahattin Demirtaş said that the Peace and Democracy Party was determined to carry out civil disobedience actions across the Kurdish region and condemned the governor of Diyarbakır Province for declaring the protests unlawful. Fellow Kurdish leader Ahmet Türk said they will continue the sit-in action despite the pressure from the Turkish authorities. "The prime minister who sends greetings to Tahrir Square while sending tanks and gas bombs at us should know that the [Kurdish] people have been seeking their freedom in their [own] Tahrir Squares," said Demirtaş, referring to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his favorable stance toward Egyptian revolutionaries.
28 March About 40,000 people marched to the alleged site of mass graves of Kurds in Siirt Province on 28 March. The protest march spun off into rioting in the province. In Batman and Diyarbakır, two of the original sites of protests as part of the civil disobedience campaign, media reported Turkish security forces detained several more protesters.
April 6 April Demirtaş ratcheted up the civil disobedience campaign by Kurdish protesters on 6 April by accusing imams sent by the government to lead prayers in Turkey's southeast of supporting and spying for the ruling Justice and Development Party and urging Kurds not to pray behind them. Demirtaş also said that sermons in Kurdish parts of the country should only be given in Kurdish, a policy Erdoğan opposes.
8 April At Friday prayers in Diyarbakır on 8 April, a number of Kurds boycotted in solidarity with the BDP, with many holding signs and banners supporting Demirtaş and the protests as others prayed. At least one newspaper ran photographs of the boycott.
11 April On 11 April, the conservative Turkish weekly Aksiyon published allegations that "militant imams" loyal to the PKK intend to promote terrorism among Kurds by portraying PKK fighters killed in clashes with government forces as martyrs. According to the report, imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan devised the plan from behind bars. It also alleged that the banned PKK is using the BDP as a political front.
19 April On 19 April, Turkey's elections board ruled that 12 Kurdish politicians who had registered as independent candidates were barred from running in the June parliamentary elections. The politicians included Leyla Zana, who has spent ten years in prison for alleged PKK membership despite a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that her imprisonment violated freedom of speech.
Kurds angry over the ban rallied in Hakkâri, Şırnak, Istanbul, Van, and Diyarbakır. More than 2,000 protesters gathered in Taksim Square on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey's largest city. Police used tear gas to disperse the protest, which reportedly injured several, including at least one police officer. Shopkeepers and workers went on strike in Hakkâri and Van. Van also saw clashes between protesters and Turkish gendarmes, with its Kurdish mayor being among the demonstrators injured in the fighting, and scuffles were also reported in Diyarbakır, where a 15-year-old boy was reportedly hospitalized after being shot and injured by police. The semi-official Anatolian Agency claimed significant property damage in the city of Diyarbakır and said police confiscated several Molotov cocktails brought to the demonstration by Kurdish protesters.
20 April On 20 April, police fired live rounds at protesters in Bismil. One protester was killed, four were injured, and at least 16 were arrested. The incident drew outrage from the Kurdish community, with Selahattin Demirtaş canceling a planned meeting with President Abdullah Gül in Ankara over the shooting.
21 April The elections board reversed its decision to bar several Kurdish political candidates on 21 April after facing massive outcry. Some journalists expected this to be the end of intensified protests and rioting. Nonetheless, the Anatolian Agency reported that one police officer and two civilians were injured in rioting in Batman on the same day. The semi-official news agency alleged that Kurdish protesters attacked police with rocks, firebombs, and gunfire. It also said three people were hospitalized in Van Province after Kurdish demonstrators set fire to a bank with a Molotov cocktail. Police reportedly employed tear gas and water cannons to disperse the riot.
23 April According to a report in the pro-government daily Zaman, alleged PKK supporters threw Molotov cocktails at a house in suburban Şanlıurfa while a family was sleeping there on the night of 23 April, seriously damaging the property but causing only minor injuries. Police detained two in connection with the incident.
24 April Zaman claimed pro-BDP protesters in Ergani attacked buildings and gendarmes with Molotov cocktails and firecrackers. It also reported that 32 rioters in Batman were detained after a crowd of demonstrators pelted police with stones and tried to set fire to shops. These demonstrations came just days after international media reported an easing of tensions in southeast Turkey following the reversal of a ban on several Kurdish parliamentary candidates. The Anatolian Agency reported that two off-duty soldiers, wearing civilian clothes, were shot from behind in Yüksekova, leaving both injured. It also claimed rioting, including stone- and firebomb-throwing, in Bismil, which police reportedly used tear gas and water cannon to disperse.
25 April In the early morning of 25 April, police raided and dismantled numerous "democratic solution" tents and arrested protesters in 17 provinces across Turkey, Bianet reported. One MP was reportedly injured in a scuffle with police.
BDP supporters protested violently in the Aksaray neighborhood of Istanbul, attacking police, vehicles, and shops, Zaman alleged. Turkish authorities also arrested 35 in Hakkâri on alleged PKK ties. In response, more than 20,000 Kurds living near the international border with Iraq marched to a border crossing and threatened to enter Iraqi Kurdistan in a show of defiance unless the 35 were released, forcing Peace and Democracy Party officials to intervene. The protesters eventually returned to their homes.
26 April On 26 April, about 20,000 in southeast Turkey reportedly turned out to protest the detention of alleged PKK supporters in Hakkâri, according to media. About 10,000 protesters set off on a march from Hakkâri to Van, according to Kurdish officials.
Police detained 17 in Manisa's Kurdish quarter and tore down BDP-backed "democratic solution" tents and protest camps in Tunceli, Manisa, İzmir, Mardin, and Şırnak. Authorities said they were searching for Molotov cocktails and took down tents where they purportedly found the makeshift firebombs.
27 April On 27 April, demonstrators hurled Molotov cocktails at riot police located near Aksaray metro station, which prompted the police to use tear gas to disperse the protesters. The demonstrators were mostly dispersed, although a small group remained in Aksaray, broadcaster NTV reported.
29 April Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed PKK leader, called for a violent rebellion against the Turkish government on 29 April at a meeting with his lawyers, Turkish daily Vatan reported.
30 April