President of the HDP party, Ertuğrul Kürkçü, speaks to Vijay Prashad about the latest crackdown by Erdoğan’s government on democracy

Vijay Prashad and E. Ahmet Tonak explain what is behind the recent attacks on the progressive HDP party in Turkey

The Recep Tayyip Erdoğan-led government announced its withdrawal from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence through a presidential decree on March 20

Turkey’s chief prosecutor has filed a lawsuit in the constitutional court to disband the pro-Kurdish left-wing Peoples Democratic Party on charges of having links with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)

The protests in Turkey began on January 4 against the appointment of Melih Bulu, an outsider and loyalist of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as rector of Boğaziçi University. They have continued despite hundreds of arrests by the police

Students and teachers of Boğaziçi University and across Turkey have been protesting the undemocratic appointment of Erdogan loyalist Melih Bulu as the institution’s rector

The Progressive Party of Working People and Members of the European Parliament from Cyprus expressed solidarity with Turkish Cypriot publisher Şener Levent who is being persecuted for defaming Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Güven has been vocal about the plight of Kurdish people.

Leyla Güven, a former member of parliament, was tried and sentenced for her alleged membership of the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) and on the charge of disseminating “terrorist propaganda”

Turkey has been hit by a second wave of COVID-19 and recorded more new cases on Sunday than Brazil and Russia, standing just behind the US and India

More than 470 people were tried for their alleged involvement in a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016 to overthrow Erdogan out of which the court found 337 guilty

The protesters demanded that Turkey should not withdraw from the 2011 Istanbul Convention which asks the signatories to enact laws to prevent violence against Women.