ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — When the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) started her speech at Turkish parliament on Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan left the chamber, accusing the HDP of boycotting the Turkish national anthem and “martyring our soldiers.”
Asked why he was leaving early, Erdogan told journalists as he left parliament “How can I not leave? Shall we listen to those who do not recite Turkish national anthem? Shall we listen to those who have martyred our soldiers? Shall we listen to those who walk arm-in-arm with those people?”
“Those people” is an apparent reference to Erdogan’s constant conflation of the HDP with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party. HDP denies any links to the latter.
He added: “If you think it is right, I don't think so,” saying that he would not harm the souls of killed soldiers.
Hours later the leader of HDP, Pervin Buldan, said in a tweet that “HDP is the parliament’s third biggest party. Period ..!”
Pro-Erdogan Turkish media released a video of the parliament meeting — which was held on the anniversary of National Children’s Day — purportedly showing HDP lawmakers standing up but not reciting the anthem.
Rudaw English could not independently verify the claim.
Omer Ocalan, a HDP lawmaker who was in the session, told Rudaw English that they officially do not have any problem with the anthem, claiming that Erdogan is “concerned” about the loss of metropolitans like Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir “as the HDP was behind the loss.”
“We do not have any problem with the Turkish national anthem. Our problem is with democracy in Turkey,” he said, adding that their MPs are free how to deal with the anthem but “it is not in our agenda to oppose it.”
Ocalan also claimed he saw a number of their lawmakers citing the anthem.
Called the “Independence March,” the anthem was officially adopted in 1921 by Mehmet Akif Ersoy — two-and-half years before the establishment of the modern Turkish state.
Back in 2015, the same issue happened at the parliament. Then a leader of the HDP Selahattin Demirtas, who is currently in jail over terror-related charges, said that they respect the anthem and no one should have to compel them to recite it.
“There is no special principle on it. I do not know that there is something to compel the recitation of Turkish national anthem. Our friends have respected it by standing up and listening to it,” he said in a TV program at the time.
Turkey held municipal and local elections on March 31. The country’s Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) is yet to fully finalize results across the country. AKP’s request to annul the votes of people dismissed after the 2016 failed military coup was rejected by the YSK on Tuesday.