Turkish state-run TV channel TRT Kurdi slanders pro-Kurdish HDP in biased depiction

Salih Gergerlioğlu / DUVAR

State broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television (TRT)'s Kurdish channel slandered pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) by depicting party officials threatening violence in numerous scenes. 

HDP officials are seen threatening families with blowing up their houses in TRT Kurdî's show "Pivaz," as well as threatening voters who consider voting otherwise, and telling members of the press that they will be shot if they don't leave the HDP headquarters in southeastern Diyarbakır.

Party officials are also seen using racist insults to address each other, implying using HDP funds for personal expenses, and implying ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), dubbed a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States, and the European Union (EU).

The anti-Kurdish attitude the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) adopted after the end of the Ankara-PKK peace process in 2015 has seeped into all branches of the government, with Turkish prosecution deeming any relations to Kurdish politics, culture, or language to be criminal activity.

“Employing enmity of Kurds and the HDP in the smallest things like TV shows, characters, and dialogue is a sign of their pitifulness, they're trying to propagate their cause with these messy tactics," HDP Group Deputy Chairwoman Meral Danış Beştaş said.

The chairwoman also noted that HDP officials have never been violent with members of the public or voters, but that they are in turn often the ones being beaten by law enforcement.