Dutch Kurdish female parliament candidate threatened online
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Dutch Kurdish candidate for the Dutch parliament and her brother have been receiving death threats online ahead of upcoming elections.
Serpil Ates is in 24th place on the election list for the GroenLinks (GreenLeft) party and is a current member of the city council in The Hague, the seat of government in the Netherlands.
She describes herself as a human rights activist and focuses on the situation of minorities in Turkey, including Kurds, and believes in the right to self-determination.
Last weekend, a campaign video was distributed via the official Twitter account of the GreenLeft, in which her brother was also mentioned.
On Sunday he received a message via social media: "Tomorrow I will come and kill you," according to a report on local news website Omroep West.
According to Ates, the threat fits in a pattern in which critics of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are being threatened in both Turkey and Europe.
“They didn't scare me with their threats. I will continue to speak out on human rights. As a Dutch person with Alevi and Kurdish roots, I am diametrically opposed to the AKP party. I stand up for everyone who is oppressed,” she told Omroep West.
“Kurds are no longer easy prey and now are not afraid to claim their right to exist on all fronts,” the candidate told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday.
Last week it became clear that Dutch female politicians in particular are subjected to hate on social media.
Ten percent of all tweets directed at female politicians contain hatred or aggression, according to research by the weekly news magazine De Groene Amsterdammer and Utrecht Data School. Ates is just the latest on the list of women in the Netherlands who receive hateful messages.
However, it doesn’t stop the politician from speaking out.
"Hands off Serpil, her brother and all other activists and politicians who are threatened and intimidated,” tweeted Niels van den Berge, a member of parliament for the Dutch Green party and a candidate for the current elections.
Acting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told the public radio show Good Morning Netherlands that that it is “terrible” Dutch female politicians are targeted online and that he supports an appeal by Sigrid Kaag, the leader of the Democrats 66 (D66), against online hate posts.
He said both male and women politicians should be resilient against such online attacks. However, he urged young women who may be dissuaded from pursuing politics,“please, continue the fight, we support you.”
Dutch parliamentary elections will be held on March 15-17, spread out across three days to help people cast their vote safely during the coronavirus pandemic.
Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly