DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — The Indian summer sun that brightens Diyarbakir in November belies the gloom of a coterie of men conversing by the ancient walls of the city, the heart of Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast. Their topic, reverberating from the Kurdish street to political halls in Ankara, is a tough one: Should the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) withdraw from parliament and local administrations in protest of Ankara’s ongoing dismissals of Kurdish mayors? 

“We live in a country where the will of the Kurds is disregarded,” one of the men said, arguing that it “makes no sense” for HDP lawmakers to stay in parliament. “I think they should withdraw. Enough is enough. How long could this possibly go on? They should withdraw and go home. Let’s see what happens afterward,” the man grumbled. 

Another lent him support: “I, too, think they should withdraw. [Government officials] say, ‘We have no problem with our Kurdish brothers.’ If they have no problem with their Kurdish brothers, then why is only the HDP [singled out for] wrongdoing?”

Both men asked not be named, a request that has become commonplace in Turkey, where even ordinary people often land behind bars for speaking out against the government or criticizing it on social media.