Pushed From Opposition, Turkey's Kurds Threaten Resistance
- Turkey moves closer to putting Kurdish lawmakers on trial
- Kurdish leader Demirtas warns of an autonomous parliament
People cheer Co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas, arriving for the first edition of the HDP provincial extraordinary congress in Istanbul on April 10, 2016.
Photographer: Yasin Akgul/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Brawling that’s disrupted Turkish parliamentary debates in recent weeks could be a precursor to a fiercer and more protracted fight.
The latest punches were thrown on Monday as a panel of lawmakers recommended stripping leading Kurdish politicians of the legal protections that allow them to function in opposition. In response, the targeted deputies are increasingly taking on the language of a resistance movement, rejecting the authority of the state and, for the first time, threatening to establish their own legislative body.