 rate of duty will be free.The promising career of jailed Kurdish leader has been inhibited during the state of emergency which unleashed the forces of authoritarianism with the erosion of pillars of democracy.
The jailed co-leader of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party has said he is not planning to run in any further elections, effectively ending a political career that threatened to shake Turkish politics.
Selahattin Demirtas is the best-known face of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and a passionate speaker who led his party into parliament for the first time in June 2015 after setting the election campaign alight with his fiery rhetoric.
His political charisma, for many in Turkey, rivals that of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and some observers have even dubbed him the “Kurdish Obama” after the former US leader.
But Demirtas has been imprisoned since November 2016 when he was among 12 HDP lawmakers rounded up under the state of emergency imposed after a failed coup in July that year.
He had previously run against Erdogan in the August 2014 presidential elections.
But Demirtas told Agence France-Presse in an interview that he would not run in the next elections in November 2019, when the executive presidency approved in a controversial referendum last year will come into force.
“I am not concerned about a political career. My only stance is to fight for democracy, freedom, human rights and peace,” he said in a written response to questions from AFP passed through his lawyers.
Following the interview with AFP, Demirtas separately confirmed last week that he would resign as HDP’s leader at the party congress on February 11 on grounds that he would likely remain in detention.
A former human rights lawyer, he is currently being held at a prison in Edirne, northwest Turkey, telling AFP he was sharing a cell measuring 12 square metres (130 square foot) with another detainee.
While in prison, Demirtas has managed to tweet through a third party but has also written poetry, produced artwork and penned a selection of short stories entitled “Seher” — or “Dawn” in Turkish.
Among the charges against him are “managing a terrorist organization”, “making propaganda for a terror group” and “inciting criminal acts” in a case denounced by the HDP as “political”.
If convicted, he faces up to 142 years in jail.
Although his trial opened on December 7, he has yet to appear in court with supporters saying the aim is to silence him.
Demirtas and the HDP are accused of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has waged an insurgency in Turkey since 1984 and is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.
Both Demirtas and his party strongly deny the allegations.
“The justice system in Turkey was always bad but right now, it is completely finished, helpless,” he said.
There are a total of 96 cases against Demirtas, party officials say.
“Of course one day I will be freed, but this won’t be because of a fair judicial ruling but because of political developments,” he said.
Eight other MPs remain in jail including the party’s former co-leader Figen Yuksekdag who was stripped of her MP status in February 2016.
She stepped down in May last year as co-leader and was replaced by Serpil Kemalbay.
They were among over 55,000 arrested under the state of emergency imposed after the failed coup of 2016 — a measure which is likely to be renewed for a sixth time.
Barely a month after the HDP’s success in the June 2015 elections, the two-year ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish state fell apart and intense fighting resumed.
Demirtas denounced the government’s approach to the “Kurdish problem”, telling AFP that Erdogan had always taken an “opportunistic” approach.
“They never handled the issue with an honest democratic understanding,” he said.The next day we tried the Vietnamese equivalent of Jewish penicillin in a bowl of chicken pho, as good as any made by Shelli’s mother in her previous life as a Vietnamese peasant. Room service is wonderful; if you have to be sick, do it in a good hotel.
United Airlines is the only US airline to fly out of Saigon, but they do it at 6:05 AM. The night before, New Year's Day, we had tried to go to Ngon, a restaurant that sounded intriguing: some clever entrepreneur had gathered many of the best street food vendors under one roof and supplied tables, chairs and clean implements, allowing us scaredy-cats to eat both exotically and safely at the same time. Unfortunately when we got there the crowd at the door and in the street looked like it would keep us from actually eating for several hours yet, so we told the cab driver to turn around and take us back to the hotel.  So we wound up having very good pizza at the hotel for our last meal in Vietnam.
Hong Kong is a replay of Saigon: feel not so bad, go out and sightsee, then Shelli spends the rest of the day and all of the following one in bed sneezing. This time the bed comes with a panoramic view of Hong Kong harbor, shrouded in mist and criss-crossed by ferries, freighters, junks, sampans, tugs and barges.
Yesterday we waited an hour to get a table at a recommended dim sum restaurant which was just OK, then wandered around the Hollywood Road area, which is full of antique shops. After looking in a number of them and finding that the things we liked cost more than we liked them, we went into one we remembered from 1987 and found our souvenir of this trip, a charming 10 inch tall wooden ancestor figure supposedly made about 1880.
A long trek down (thank god we had driven up! those hills are steep) through the bustle of Central district took us to the newly relocated Star Ferry terminal, where a ride on the upper deck costs HK$2.20, just under 30 cents USD, and another evening of room service.
Gene really liked what he saw of Hong Kong. Despite his own incipient cold, he managed to visit the Hong Kong Museum of Art where he was impressed by the extensive ceramics collection and the good job done in introducing youngsters to art. In between coughing spells we managed to do a bit of last minute shopping in the mall adjacent to the hotel.
Packed and ready to go, we will head to the airport in the morning.
So you thought it was over?
Magnolia’s 41st Annual Road Race is a 5k Race to be held rain or shine along a beautiful, scenic route in Magnolia. A 1k Walk/Fun Run will appeal to kids and those not capable of completing the 5k. All proceeds from the races!
- Bouncy House
- Free shirts for first 100 5k entrants
- No extra online registration fees
- Cash prizes and live music by The Steamers!
- Proceeds go to the Magnolia Library
- Police & Fire Touch-A-Truck
- Kids entry fee includes Pancake Breakfast and bouncy house!
Good Morning Gloucester Interview with 2013 Race Organizers
When:
Saturday, August 26, 2017 1k Fun Run 8:30am; 5k run: 9am
Location:
Prices:
Kids 1k fun run: $10 (Includes Pancake Breakfast)
5k: Adults: $25
Race Day Reg: Adults: $30
Phone:
617.413.6315
Link(s):Last week saw the introduction of House Bill 298 and Senate Bill 266. The bills would allow greater flexibility for the ready mix industry by adding an extra hour of drive time a day and ten hours of on the clock time in a week for truck drivers who operate intrastate.
This legislation is the top legislative priority for the association and we need your help to get this legislation passed.
On Wednesday, April 1st, 2015, House Bill 298 will appear before the House Transportation Committee. The Trial Lawyers Association has called for a public hearing on the legislation.
If you have a plant in one of the Representatives’ districts listed below we encourage you to call and ask for their support. A call from the district is the strongest method to gain support from a legislator.
– Passage of the bill would not jeopardize Federal Funding as the requested variances are allowed by the Federal Motors Safety Carrier Administration.
– 21 states have adopted similar variances provided by the bill.
– Alabama already grants HOS variances to all farm trucks.
– Passage of the bill would assist all intrastate drivers but would provide much needed flexibility for a construction industry that is still fighting challenging economic times.
– Passage of the bill would allow all intrastate drivers greater flexibility by increasing drive time from 11 hours to 12 hours in a day.
– Passage of the bill would increase on the clock time from 60 hours in 7 days to 70 hours in 7 days or 80 hours in 8 days.
House Bill 275 by Representative Mark Tuggle, (R) Alexander City would allow a construction manager at risk option for publically funding projects in the state and create a design build mechanism on state projects.
House Bill 275 had a public hearing last week. The bill received heavy pushback during the public hearing and was carried over for a future vote.
House Bill 268 by Representative Steve Clouse would increase the sales tax on trucks from 2% to 3%. The bill did not see any movement last week.
The Alabama Legislature is on Spring Break this week. They will reconvene