The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) has brought forward its fifth ordinary grand congress to Sept. 6, party spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan said on Aug. 13, as she hailed a newly passed framework law as a significant legal opening for democratization and resolving the country’s long-running terrorism issue.
Speaking at the party headquarters, Doğan described the “Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration,” which passed Parliament with 467 votes, as an important turning point. She said the legislation could create new political and legal avenues, while stressing that it did not constitute a final solution.
Doğan said that “a very serious path has been opened toward Türkiye’s democratization,” adding that DEM Party was proposing to move forward through dialogue and joint efforts.
Doğan said the law was particularly significant because it marked the first time her party had signed such legislation, describing it as the beginning of a broader political and legal process addressing a century-old issue.
Asked about reports concerning the possible release of former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, Doğan said neither Demirtaş nor former HDP co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ had any legal reason to remain imprisoned.
She said decisions by the European Court of Human Rights and Türkiye’s Constitutional Court should be implemented and argued that no new legislation was necessary to secure their release. “Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ should have been released long ago,” she said, calling for their cases and those of other detainees covered by binding court rulings to be resolved swiftly.
