Turkey’s opposition HDP calls for joint struggle for jailed deputies
ANKARA
Turkey’s opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has called for a “joint struggle” to stop what it called the “elimination of politicians and democratic politics.” The party released the “Democratic Solution Declaration” with nine articles, featuring “urgent democratic demands.”
In an event called “Democracy Festival” in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district, HDP spokesperson Osman Baydemir and the party’s co-chair Serpil Kemalbay read the demands of the party, whose co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, former co-chair and lawmaker Figen Yüksekdağ and nine lawmakers are in jail.
“Let’s say ‘stop’ to the pressure on democratic politics, elimination of politicians with sentences, holding co-chairs, lawmakers and mayors hostage by arresting them, appointing trustees to elected municipalities by ignoring the people’s will and branding of those who criticize the government or have opposing thoughts as ‘traitors’ or ‘terrorists,’” Kemalbay and Baydemir jointly said on July 20, adding that “universal human rights and freedoms can’t be abandoned.”
“Let’s say ‘no’ to the pressure and censorship on the right to assembly, thought and expression, crimes against humanity, such as isolation, torture and maltreatment in prisons, targeting those who have different thoughts, life styles and sexual orientations with hate speech and the violation of the right to live, which is sacred for everyone,” the party also said.
Other demands of the party, under the title “We are calling for a joint struggle. Let’s not stop! Let’s say ‘stop,’” included articles demanding that the rule of law should be restored, universal democratic legal principles should not be violated, peace should not be abandoned, the social and economic rights of laborers should not be extorted, natural and cultural values should not be destroyed, the todays and futures of the youth should not be darkened, the gains of women should not be destroyed and that a new societal agreement is necessary.
